Legends of the Shadowclan guild
by Theblazepanzer24
Summary: Blaze was your average male student in the real world, but when a strange anomaly send him to the SAO universe, and changed his gender in the process. Can the newly named Hanoashi cope with her new body and make a difference in sword art online? What if she finds love? Follow her as she builds the Shadowclan Volunteers guild. Self-insert, OC X Teenage Dyne.
1. Chapter 1

**A:N So basically this is going to be a self-insert of sorts, but I'm hoping to create a fair and balanced story without making any of the characters too perfect or OP. Please enjoy and feel free to leave a review if you would like too. I don't own Sword Art Online nor any other Intellectual Property mentioned in this store. This is just fan work.**

 **One quick note here, the first few chapters are designed to set the main character up. At the time of this writing there is at least five Pre-SAO chapters, and upwards of seven more may be added.**

Gazing around his room as he thought about what to write next Blaze sighed, glancing at his phone. He'd just gotten done playing some Sword Art Online, Lost song, and had decided to work on his latest story, but soon got writer's block. Noticing an odd email, he opened it up, before everything around him became white. "What...What's going on?" He shouted, before blacking out.

Cold. That's the best thing he could state as he finally blocked his eyes open, staring at a strange lighting fixture high above him, probably about ten feet or so. Bars blocked said light, confusing him greatly. As he rose up, he noticed three things right away.

The first was that he was wearing short sleeves, something he never really did. Actually, it looked more like a gown than anything else. Second, he had long red hair. His hair was supposed to be more of a blondish brown, and much much shorter but instead, it was red, flowing down to his waist. Finally, he had breast. Not abnormally large breast like some of those girls in the anime did, but none the less, he had them.

Basically, he was a girl now. With that revelation, she simple shrugged, deciding to not dwell on this now. Rather, she decided it would be best to focus on what was going on around her. Turning around, she gasped as bars filled one side of the wall, with a skidding metal bar door.

 _Okay, this is a low ball trick. I'm going to wake up any moment from this nightmare._ At this she was desperate, hating jail, even though in a society where criminals ran wild it was a necessary evil. _But... but what if I'm not in jail. What if...if..._ She couldn't finish the thought. Slowly, she rose up, feeling the gown fall across her lower legs as she did so. Stretching, she made her way to the metal gates, and dared to peer out.

She noticed a uniformed guard. _Japanese by the looks of it... I hope._ She let out a small sigh of relief, though she was still incredibly nervous. And who wouldn't be, waking up in jail, mind you as the opposite gender. Still, she walked back to her bench and sat down, breathing a sigh.

 _I wonder how long I've been setting in here,_ she thought, before two officers opened her cell. "Okay girly, it's time for your interrogation," one of them, a man, gruffed, before grabbing her arm. "You...you don't have to be so...so rough... I'll come quietly," She got out, her voice trembling in fright. Letting a huff, he put the handcuffs on her, though he allowed her hands to be out in front, in a way giving her the benefit of the doubt. Blaze then allowed herself to be guided out of the cell.

 _This is so degrading,_ she thought, though she managed to keep her posture in a non-aggressive stance, acting partially submissive. _I don't wanna tick any of these guys off, but at the same time I just want out of here._

Arriving in the room, Blaze was seated down rather roughly, before her left hand was handcuffed to the table to prevent her escape. Another uniformed officer walked in, and sat down.

"So you've finally woken up, haven't you?" He began before chuckling. She could simply nod, not sure what to make of it. "Appearing in thin air snark naked in the middle of Toyko caused quite a stir."

"Wait...what?" She demanded quietly, shocked out of my mind. He nodded before pointing to a tv and showing a video. As she watched, a naked girl with red hair did appeared in thin, air, and several different emotions came through her.

Confusion as to how this happened.

Anger and bewilderment as how she had come to be naked on camera.

And embarrassment, both in that it was definitely her and that this was her first time seeing a naked girl before.

She sighed and turned to him. "I...I had no idea. I''m really sorry about the trouble."

He nodded reassuringly. "To be honest, I wasn't sure to make of this. Now, do you know how you came to be naked, or to appear like that?" Blaze shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I don't." He then let out a gusty sigh.

"Do you know anything about your past?" He ask. This time Blaze let out a nod. "My mother kept me hidden away, though she made sure I had good people skills and knowledge. Several of my family members also communicated with me, but other than that, my time was either spend playing the Playstation, house cleaning or studying." She couldn't explain why she had these memories, only that they where definitely hers. Not his, so to speak, but still her memories.

He then passed her a card. "We don't know how this was made, buy you where holding it on your persons when they found you." Gazing quietly at the card, Blaze winched at the picture and the name. _It's me... but there isn't a last name. hm... Hanoashi huh, a good name for a girl I suppose. Sliding_ the card back, she then tipped her head. "What will happen to me now?" She dared to ask.

He smiled a bit. "In a few days, we'll set you set up with a representative, and you can make a few choices about your future."

She glanced at the handcuffs. "Do...do I have to sit in the jail cell till then?"

He shook his head. "If you can promise us you won't try to run, we can set you up in a cheep hotel room. Of course, it'll take us a bit of time to set everything up, so you'll have to wait until then."

Hanoashi was tempted to ask if she could stay in the lobby, but he seemed to noticed her unease about going back to the cell. "I know you don't like it, but it's for your safety."

Giving a sigh, she nodded. "I suppose I can manage that," She whispered, before being guided back to her cell, the guards once again handcuffing her for the trip. _I'm not going to run you idiots!_ She mentally shouted, getting angry at being treated by a criminal. Yet deep down, she knew that if she wanted to get to that hotel room, she had to be cooperative. That still didn't mean she had to like it.

Sitting down on her bunk, she waited and waited and waited again. _Why does time in jail have to be so damned slow!_ She thought angrily. _Ugh! This is so unfair! I haven't done anything,... wait, why am I whining? Blaze doesn't whine, no matter how tough things get! Besides, it can't be much longer..._ her thoughts where interrupted by the door opening.

"Warden say's your free to go to your hotel. Quite frankly I don't believe your story but whatever." Hanoashi didn't respond, as she simply went along with him, not wanting to cause an altercation. _This set-up better be worth it,_ she thought bitterly, as she was lead to a changing room.

"Get changed, I'm busting the door in three minuets." Hanoashi mentally snorted, but quietly went in, focusing on getting chanced. At least she knew how to put her bra on, and the other parts took no less time to fashion. A white tee-shirt and jeans, with white sneakers, everything being her size almost like they planned this. _But then why throw me in a cell, then?_ She asked, before snorting to herself. _Of course, they thought I was some sort of alien or something, I bet!_ She mentally chuckled at the notion. _Bunch of sissies, as is any aliens would be stupid enough to want to interact with this sin-hole of a planet!_ Of course she had no way of being sure this was the same kinda of Earth as the one he had lived on, but she was assuming that it was.

She unlocked the door, causing the guard to flinch. "Gesus girl, you got dressed as fast as the guys do!" He muttered loudly. _What, it's not like you gave me any make-up or an opportunity to shower or anything. Putting on a bra and clothes doesn't take that long when it's all your doing._ However, she simply nodded. "I'm ready," she whispered softly, and yet again allowed herself to be lead down the hall. _Speaking of which, what about beuity products?_ Being a guy up until nine hours ago, or maybe a bit longer, she wasn't sure about all this girl stuff, but at least she knew some things she would steer clear from. _Make-up, eye shadow, lipstick, eww,_ She never looked down on those who wore make-up, even as a guy, but he never really saw the appeal of most forms of make-up, and that was bleeding into her current opinion as a girl. _And I'll need to shave my arms and legs now, I'll have to look up how to to that._ Right now her skin was well shaven and she found that she really liked it.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the doors to the building and entered a car, a Jaguar by the looks of it. "Tomorrow I'll take you clothes shopping, but for the rest of today I want you to rest. By the way, I packed you a spare sleeping gown and a few essentials, plus some books so that you don't get bored."

Hanoashi smiled at him. "Thank you," she replied softly, looking forward to reading something after her recent ordeal. Anything, really! Heck, she'd even find a book on computer coding interesting. True, she had been an expert on building computers, but she had had sucked when it came to programming. Still, she doubted he'd have handed her a book on programming, rather she figured they'd be something maybe romantic or perhaps an adventure book.

"So, any idea what you'd like to do after you graduate?" He asked. Hanoashi shrugged, even though those words held a great deal of releif to her. "To be honest I haven't given it much thought. At one time I considered it would be cool to be a teacher, but... that still just something I've been considering."

"What kind of teacher?"

"Not sure yet, perhaps in the near future I'll have a better idea."

Her favorite thing about the ride was the air conditioning, to be honest. Even though the car was cool, it wasn't nearly as cold as the prison cell, and felt soothing to the young girl. Unfortunately, the ride was pretty short, and the girl found herself at the Santna Serea hotel.

"It's not expensive or high class but it's comfortable." Hanoashi gave him a smile. "I'm just appreciative to have a place to stay, so I don't mind." She told him. _As long as it isn't the jail cell,_ she growled inwardly, still ticked off over that stunt they pulled on her. Granted, she could completely understand their reservations, I mean she'd been frightened if a naked human suddenly appeared out of thin air too, but that was still quite the cruel thing to do to someone so young as herself.

Like many times beforehand, she kept up the grace to avoid venting her anger and disgust, opting to bide her tongue to avoid offending her host. Last thing she needed was to make anyone think she was a spoiled brat whom thought the world owed her. While it was true she never thought of herself like that, she was now trying to be very careful, as the journey to a more normal life in large part depended on her ability to show them that she could be calm, even in the most dire of circumstances.

As she lied down on her bed, having finally been left alone, she reflected on her new life so far. "This... becoming a female isn't too bad, but it is the other stuff I hate about it." She muttered, giving the door a glare worthy of death. She wasn't mad at the door, but at the man who walked out of it. _Hell, even a holding cell would have been more preferable. And being jostled around like that, jeez._ Rising up from her bed she walked into the bathroom, sighing in relief as she spotted a mirror.

Glancing over herself, she gave a small nod. She had pale green eyes, with medium-dark red hair, and a few light feckless. Her skin, though white, held a slightly red tint to it. Compered to her former body, which had a blondish brown hair color and dark blue eyes, this was quite the contrast, but not an unpleasant change. And oddly enough, being female felt completely natural to her, almost as if she'd actually been born female rather than turned into one just twelve hours ago. _And what's up with those memories?_

Stepping away from the mirror, she switched into her spare gown, taking her bra off due to her wanting to keep it fresh for later. _I tend to sweat a lot at night, so... wait, what? How do I know that is still the case?_ Shrugging, she sat her old bra in the bag. _Note to self, buy a sports bra tomorrow,_ she muttered darkly, not too sure she liked going without one. True, they might be a tad uncomfortable, but it was her first day as an girl and was still getting use to some of the differences. Sighing lightly, she curled up under the covers and feel asleep instantly.

Weak sunlight drove her awake as the gentle chirping of doves, or what she thought was doves, fluttered through the back noise. She stretched, before gathering her clothes and taking a shower. After she exited, she began to get dressed. "I wonder what beauty products I'll need to buy, and other stuff... and what about shav..." she paused, before going though my bag, spotting something odd. A box with a note attached to it. Opening up, I noticed what I thought was an illusion at first, because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Dear Hanoashi, I'm sorry for what you had to go through. I kinda figured you where one of those who liked to keep yourself well shaven, so I went out and bought you this No-no Nexus-7 shaver. Hopefully, this will help you on your track to a normal life, and serve as an apology.

Sincerely, the warden."

Hanoashi was slightly confused, but smiled nonetheless. _Well, I'm not sure this suffices for the ten hours of pure embarrassment I just went through, but it is greatly appreciated._

"P.S, I've also included a 30,000 yen gift debit card for you to use to set yourself up something nice for entertainment once you get settled in."

Her eyes widened, and she quickly found a small purse with a wallet it in, containing her ID card, said debit card, and about 2,000 loose yen. _Well, this is defiantly a good start. Still, not going to make up for that jail stint, though._ It wasn't her fault she suddenly appeared stark naked in Toyko. She was no threat to anyone. But what did they do? Throw her in jail. Although part of her could partially rationalize that response, the part that she could not was that it had to happened to her. And that she found it utterly rude what they did to her.

She shook her head to clear it, before heading back to the bathroom and getting changed. It wasn't long before she herd a knock on the door.

"Ready to go?" A familiar voice asked, and Hanoashi nodded. "Just let me get my purse and bag and...

"Don't worry about the bag, just get your purse and be dressed. We leave in five minuets," he called out. After hearing that, she was glad that she had showered already and simply grabbed her purse and headed out the door, making sure to lock her room.

They stopped at a restaurant for breakfast, her order being a simple sausage morning sandwich, and afterwards they headed to a shopping mall. "Now, we need to get you some fresh clothes to start out with. Here's another 30,000 yen, pick out what you want, but be sure to get clothes for different situations.

Needless to say, She spent her money fairly wisely, making sure that no piece was much over 2500 yen so as to conserve money. As she returned her cart to the Warden, he was at first shocked at how much she had selected then pleased when the total came to 27,987 yen. "Wow, this much, you've done well," he beamed gently at her, and for the first time, Hanoashi felt like the warden was honestly trying to help her for her benefit rather than simply as an apology for the whole jail cell incident.

After the clothing shopping was done, he offered to take her to a store of her choice and pick out anything she wanted under 8,000 yen. To his surprise, she asked to go to a retro gaming store, desiring to see if they had any cheep hand-held consoles. "Your a gamer, aren't you?" he asked, and she simply nodded.

She ended up carrying a fairly new 2DS with her, Fairly new meaning new top screen, bottom screen in good condition and new battery and charger. She bought a copy of Pok'emon X, Legend of Zelda Majora's mask and Ace Combat assault legacy, though she kept the rest of the money on her card in case she decided to come back. She also bought a 1,000 yen gift card to download a copy of Pok'emon yellow.

"You really are a gamer, aren't you?" He asked, and she smiled. "I use to play the Playstation one all the time, though that was about the only form of entertainment I had besides study books." She reminded him.

"Yet you went for the 3DS instead?" He asked.

"Games for the Playstation one are getting kinda hard to find. Some of the titles I had and some of the ones I think I'd enjoy where there, but they where about as expensive if not more so and I'm not too sure how long the disk or consoles would last." She explained.

"That's a good point," He commented, and they stopped for lunch, this time at an Arby's. She got herself two chicken sandwiches, while he had a chicken meal duplex combo. This time was also spend around conversations.

"If you don't mind me asking, what guided your decisions in buying those games?" He asked.

Hanoashi swallowed her bite and smiled. "Well, you remembered when you let me use your cell phone to look up the titles of games?" she began, before taking a sip of her apple juice.

"Yes, but how did you know which ones to go for?"

"Well, Ace combat looked somewhat like an arcade slash war game, so that was the first one I looked at. An aerial combat game looks fun, yet difficult to master, so that seemed like a logical pick. Pok'emon reminded me of Digimon world in the title, and that would have been my pick had I only been able to chose one. As for Maorja's mask, well, I decided that a good action-adventure game would be a good choice as well.

He nodded. "But why the card to buy Pok'emon yellow and why stop at that?"

Hanoashi was not fooled. She knew he was curious, but she also knew that he was, for lack of a better term, gauging her. Trying to see how her thinking process worked, and if she could think on her feet. "Well, RPG's take some time to complete, and I wanted to see what pok'emon was like in the early days. As for why I stopped after the 1,000 yen card," she paused for a second. "I also didn't want to spend all of my free spending money in one place."

He nodded, and finished his meal. Afterwards the two returned to the hotel, and Hanoashi smiled as she gazed around after he left. She wasn't allowed to leave the hotel still, but at least her life was rapidly improving.

 _I never ate out twice in one day before, even back in my old life,_ she realized. Heck, he had almost never ate out, but then she kinda found that she liked it more now for some reason. _I wonder what all has changed about be? I mean, granted, I'm now enjoying wearing short sleeves now, yet when I was a guy I only wore long sleeves, but this feels kinda nice for a change._

Eventually, several days passed, with the Warden visiting her each day and taking her somewhere for breakfast and Lunch. During that time she would reveal more about herself, and they'd get to know each other. But today, that was not the case.

Today she was sitting in the main lobby of the social services office, waiting to hear what would happen to her. Only yesterday she had taken a grade placement test to determine what grade she'd be going into, and now she was going to hear the verdict. Once everything was in order, of course, until then she'd have to wait. At the very lease her patience, or rather ability to think of different things while waiting hadn't diminished during the transfer.

Rising up as her name was called into the court room, she shook off her fears and walked in, keeping her face as neutral as she could. While she didn't want to appear frightened, she also didn't want to appear geddy and overconfident, especially when she could be in for disappointment. Bowing before the judge, she waited patiently.

"Well, miss Hanoashi, we've gone over your test results and the opinion of the warden, and we've decided to give you a choice. You can either opt to live on your own, in an apartment, provided you allow a guardian to oversee your finances, or you can be adopted into a family. Ultimately, it is up to you on what you desire to do."

Hanoashi had to think on this for a moment, but after a few moments, she gave a nod of determination. "I...I'd like to live alone, if that's okay."

"Very well, we'll find you a suitable apartment in the next few days. I wish you the best of luck with your new life, miss Hanoashi."

The girl smiled gently, hopeful about her new future. Little did she know what that future would bring.


	2. Chapter 2

_Nine months. I've been a girl for nine months now, and things have spread into a routine for me. All during that time I've been taught by a private tutor, to make sure I knew everything I needed to for school. Now, now was my first day of middle school._ Hanoashi smirked as her blue skirt and shirt combo contrasted her reddish hair, but that was one of the reasons she liked wearing blue. Her skirt had a white stripe near the bottom, a simple yet elegant feature she liked on the pleated dress item.

Sure, her school had a uniform, but they would not issue it for about two weeks, so you could wear anything you wanted with-in reason. Although she didn't mind the uniform, she would miss the ability to dress up for school, something she had not really done in her previous life as a guy.

There was a few fundamentals differences between Blaze and Hanoashi. Diet wise, they both liked Cereal, but Blaze preferred meats while Hanoashi preferred fruits and vegetables more. Additionally, while Blaze and Hanoashi hated wearing any kind of rings and necklaces, Hanoashi almost always wore a small watch on her left hand, something Blaze never did. Also while their opinion on short sleeves and shorts differed, most else remained the same.

As for life as a girl, Hanoashi had all but adjusted to it, almost like she had lived as one her whole life. Her memories of her old life where starting to fade as well, something she hated, but perhaps it was for the best.

Locking her door behind her, she walked over to the bus stop, and stood there, waiting. Fifteen minuets later she found herself sitting in a bus seat, simply enjoying the ride to school. As the bus stopped again, a familiar girl approached her. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked, and Hanoashi shook her head. "No, go ahead." Scooting over to give the teen room, she decided to introduce herself. "My name is Hanoashi," she smiled.

"Kieko" the girl smiled back, before tipping her head. "This your first day of school?"

"Yeah, I going to Toyko Heights."

"Wow! That's the same school I go too!" Keiko cried happily. "Standard A-1?"

Hanoashi was astounded that they went to the same class. " That's the same class I go too!" she admitted.

After a bit of chatting, Kieko gave her a nod. "Hey, Hanoashi, would you like to be friends with me?" She offered.

Smiling, she nodded. "I would be honored to be friends with you," she replied earnestly.

Arriving at their class together, their teacher allowed them to tentatively sit together, provided they behaved well. Promising they would, they smiled at each other and took their seat, eager to begin today's orientation.

"Suguha?"

"Here!"

"Hanoashi?"

"Here!" she called, raising her right hand.

"Kieko?"

"Here!"

After the roll call, all of the students where given a practice math quiz. Although some of the student's whined, Hanoashi's reaction was quite different.

 _Quiz? Yes! Time to show off my skills!_ Now she was not a competitive person, but she loves quizzes, test, and in general, school work so she eagerly got right to work on it. _Hm, 26+(2X5), that would be 10 plus 26, which is 36. Jeez! This is..._

"Johan! Quit copying off of Hanoashi right this minute!" Hanoashi flinched, then blushed softly as she went back to work. _Freaking cheat! What a party pooper. Now... 94X8... carry the thirty, 9 times 8 is 72, add three to that which is 75, and if you add the..._

"Johan, in the hall, now!" _Again! jeez woman, do your own work. This isn't that hard you know!_ Turning her attention back to the problem, she finished the problem. _752._

After the bell rang for lunch, Hanoashi and Keiko made their way to lunch. "By the way, I like your watch, Hanoashi," she replied, smiling.

The watch was a simple slim-line silver metallic watch, with solid watchbands connected by a central hinge. It's bands consisted of two bands, connected occasionally by a small connector box, and the time piece was repetitively simple as well, containing no fancy decor or founts.

Hanoashi glanced at her left hand. "Oh, um, thank you. Truth is it's the only piece of jewelry I have, but then again it's about the only I found that I could wear comfortably." she admitted. "My guardian gave it to me," she added.

"I see. I usually don't wear jewelry except for special occasions myself, but it's great!"

Although she could kinda relate, she didn't personally feel like it was a big deal as her friend thought. Still, she couldn't deny that she loved wearing her watch, and she rationalized that everyone had their own opinions. But before she could say anything, she let out a gasp. "No!" Running away, leaving her friend bewilder for a moment, she ran up and stood in front of a girl with short Ebony hair defensively. "Leave her alone!" she demanded.

Lowering his hand, which was formed in the shape of a gun, he let out a smirk. "Well well, we aren't doing any harm, like it's our fault she's so sissified of our little... roleplay." He then moved forward a bit. "But... if you really want us to leave her alone... perhaps you can help her out. Just agree to become my girl friend and your little sissy will be left along.

Hanoashi was by no means fooled by his demeanor, she knew exactly what he was doing. Having control of this girl was a high for him, but holding a girl virtually captive was an even higher prize for his type. Granted, she wouldn't entirely be a captive per-say, but she'd be at his mercy if she agreed and to her that was bad enough. _Who knows what creepy stuff he'll force me to do if I agree_

Yet before she could agree or disagree, the girl seem to snap out of her fright. "You... you guys make me sick!" she shouted. Quick as a flash the bully reared up and drew his fist, intending to hit the stranger, yet before he could connect, Hanoashi blocked the shot...

Which connected with her face. As blood began to trickle down her face, she shuttered. "Leave Shino Asada alone... you cowered," she managed to get out, before fainting.

Shino had been horrified in her life before. She had been dumbfounded and angry at times. But for a complete stranger, none the less someone who knew her name, to defender her was something she never suspected. Even the bully had been so shocked at what he'd done that he simply stood there in silence, before school security dragged him off, as they had seen the ginger haired girl get punched.

One of the teacher's bent down, checking her pulse, before frowning. "She'll be okay... but we need to get her to a hospitable right away." Turning to Kieko, she frowned. "I know I'm asking a lot, but do you think you could stay with ms Asada for the day? I'll let's your teacher's know."

The girl named Kieko nodded, and extended her hand to Shino. "Hi, I'm Kieko, nice to meet you. I hope we can be friends,"

Shino shook her hand. "Shino, Shino Asada," she began, before sighing. "Friends would be nice, sure," She then smiled.

The two found themselves in the lunch room, though they where picking at their food. "I hope she's okay." Shino began, before taking a small bite out of her hamburger.

Kieko nodded. "I think she will, but taking her to the hospitable must mean she was hurt pretty bad."

"He drew blood, most likely that coupled with her fainting was enough to send her there," Shino pointed out.

Her bright green eyes fluttered open to the dim red light. "What.. what happened?" she asked groggily.

A girl in a light blue shirt placed her hand on her shoulder. "Easy Hanoashi, you got hit in the head with brass knuckles, and it drew blood." She then paused before continuing. "Most likely you saved that girl's life."

Hanoashi smiled. "I heard about what happened to Shino... I was wanting to be her friend once I saw her attending the same school as me. So... I'm glad I could take the blow." However, she let out a small yawn. "Why am I so tired and why does my head hurt so much?" She asked before flinching. "No, don't try to sugarcoat it, if something is wrong, I'd rather know right away."

The paramedic shook her head. "As far as we know, it was from the shock combined with blood loss. We'll need to keep you for a few days, to make sure of no infections or damage, though."

 _A...A few days? But... but what about school? And... what about my Guardian?_ Letting out a sigh, she decided not to bring this up. "I understand," She whispered. _I was really looking forward to going to school,_ she thought disappointingly, before falling asleep again.

School pass over slowly for Shino, and she couldn't help but worry over her protector. Kieko was helping her with her joint project, as her previous partner had been disposed of, so to speak. _I had a bad vibe from him, but seriously. Why do people have to be so stupid!_

"You okay Shino, we're almost done for the day." Kieko whispered.

Shino shook her head. "I won't be fine until I hear that Hanoashi is okay," she admitted.

Kieko looked down. "Yeah. Hey, maybe we can visit her after school.

"That's a good idea," Shino admitted, instantly feeling better. She then gazed at their half finished project. "We'd better finish this first though."

Hanoashi woke up in a bright room, her mom squeezing her hand. "Mom?" she whispered, smiling a bit.

"Thank god you're okay!" Her guardian whispered, before giving her a small smile. "How you feeling dear?

She winched, but quickly returned to a smile. "My head hurts but other than that, I'm fine." she reassured her.

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you. Do...do you want to move to a different school?"

She shook her head. "No mom, I've made a good friend already and I don't want to leave her." She then paused briefly. "And... I'd like to make friends with Shino, if she want's to," she added.

"The girl you saved, right?" She gave a small nod. "You have a kind heart, Hanoashi." Her mom breathed, before smiling at her. "She's lucky you were there today."

Hanoashi nodded. "Yes, she was." Taking off her watch, she handed it to her mom. "Can you drop this off at my apartment," she requested.

"Sure." After about thirty minuets of talking, she began to start to fall asleep. "You must have things to do, mom. I'm appreciative that you came, but I'll be fine, I promise."

Nodding, she gave her daughter a gentle hug, and promised that she'd be back tomorrow. After she left the room, Hanoashi began to dwell on the recent events.

 _That creep!_ She mentally shouted. Hopefully, he'd get some sort of juvenile detention or something. Granted, giving her recent stint in jail nine months ago, she'd normally not wished that on anyone. But, at the same time, torturing a girl like that, then hitting another girl, that was inexcusable.

She shuttered at the other aspect of that conversation. _Boyfriend?_ She had thought about that possibility, sure. Now that she was a girl, she could see herself getting with a guy. _But...but not like that,_ she inwardly sobbed, realizing how bad that could have been had she agreed. Sure, Shino might have been saved from further torment, at least from him, but then he'd hold that against her, and she'd hate to think how far he'd have gone with her.

 _No, I don't want to do this!_

 _If you don't, I'll hurt Shino._

Stifling the thoughts from her mind, Hanoashi closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Sighing, Yukari felt bad for her daughter. _She's hurting, but I trust her,_ she rationed, though had she known what that guy had wanted in exchange for leaving Shino alone, she'd have had second thoughts about leaving her. And yet her boss had allowed her to take the day off after the school called and explained the situation.

 _I should give her something to cheer her up,_ she decided, before pulling into a jewelry shop. Moving to the watch department, she found something she was sure her daughter would like, a watch similar to the one she wore but was gold rather than silver. Paying for it and then exiting, she then had another thought come across her mind. _She like's Pokemon, I wonder if they are any Pokemon games out there she doesn't have._

Doing a quick search on her phone, she discovered which games Hanoashi had already, and which she could play. In the end she bought her a copy of Pok'emon Soul Silver, and placed the game and her new watch by her daughter's side table. Placing a note, she smiled, hoping her daughter would like it.

 _Get well soon, my precious daughter,_ she whispered, before calling her employer.

Shino breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the bell ring. Putting her stuff away, her, she and Keiko packed up for the evening, with Keiko carrying Hanoashi's homework, and they set out to visit their friend.

"Let's get her a get well soon card," Shino suggested as they passed a convince store. Picking out a cute card with kittens, they payed the required 300 yen and then trekked up to Toyko memorial hospitable. _She must be pretty bad... hopefully it isn't too bad,_ Shino thought as they passed through the door.

"Um excuse us miss, is there a Hanoashi here?" they asked. "Yes, you are... her friends, okay, she's in room C-22-A." Making there way up there, they walked into there room. "Hanoashi?" Shino called out softly. "You awake?"

"Ah, Shino, come on in!" By the sound of it, she sounded genuinely happy to see her, and so they did. "Hi Hanoashi," Kieko perked up.

"Hi Kieko," the red haired girl smiled. "Thank you so much for visiting me, I was hoping you would."

"Yeah, we came as soon as school got out," Kieko reported.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Shino and Kieko shook their heads. "No, besides we wanted to make sure you where okay first." Hanoashi's eyes watered for a brief second. "You guys," she whispered before whipping her eyes.

"Oh, and we got you a card too," Shino remembered, handing her the get well soon card. The red head took it, staring at it. "Oh this is so cute! I'll treasure it forever!" She purred.

 _She seems really happy,_ Shino thought to herself, but before she could think some more Hanoashi did something she did not expect her to do. "Thank you for being my friends, Kieko, Shino." _Wait, she views me as her friend... but what about?_

"Before you complain, Yes, I know about the bank incident, Shino. But your a hero, because you saved all those people at the bank," Hanoashi admitted. "Truth be told I was hoping we'd be friends once I found out we where going to the same school, but then the incident occurred...

Shino grasped her hand gently. "Thank... thank you Hanoashi... I'm glad we are friends."

Said girl smiled. "So am I, Shino-san."

"Wait, what happened to your watch?" Kieko gasped. Hanoashi smiled. "I had my mom bring it back to my apartment after she left, about... an hour and a half ago," She explained.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. By the way, here's today's homework," Kieko handed her the papers.

Hanoashi stared at them hopefully, then frowning. "Not much work here," she sighed softly.

"Wait, you wanted more work?" Shino asked, tipping her head gently.

"Yes! School work is fun for me." Keiko and Shino both sweat dropped at this. "Oh, I should probably buy myself some text books to use over the summer break as well. Maybe I can get some matching work books as well.

"You really enjoy school, don't you?"

"Of course! Schoolwork is just a paper form of video game to me." Shino and Kieko once again sweat-dropped.

"You mam have an odd view on schoolwork. But if you enjoy it, that's great!" Hanoashi smiled at Shino. "Well, tomorrow you'll probably have more school work for me, right?"

Kieko nodded. "Of course! I'll take really good notes for you, too," she offered.

After they left, she got started on her work. _Okay, a cell without a Nucleus is called a... Oh, basic Biology, yes! But... this will be all too easy._

It was several days when Hanoashi returned home. Arriving in her apartment, she stretched. Thankfully there was no infection from her would and the cut wouldn't scar. _Thank the forum moderators mom had good insurance!_ She thought, before entering her room, and noticing the note on her desk. _Oh mom!,_ she thought, before trying out her new watch. _Just like the other one! But... I like that it's Gold, silver's great, but this will change things up._ This was about the only design of watch she liked wearing, so having one of a different color was a nice change for her.

She took her phone and called her mom. "Hey Mom, I'm home!"

"Welcome home dear, it's great to hear from you," her mom beamed.

"Yeah, it's great to be back, and to hear from you too." She then paused before adding, "Thank you so much for the watch and the Pokemon Soul Silver game."

"Oh, it's no problem hun. So, how are you enjoying the game?"

"Well... I haven't tried it yet, I wanted to thank you first and then finnish my homework. I'm wearing the watch right now, though."

"Oh Hanoashi, that's just like you... wanting to finish your homework first. Does the watch fit you well?"

"It fits perfectly mom,"

"That's good."

After about twenty minuet's on the phone, she let her mom go, and hung up before staring at the watch on her left hand. _Thanks again mom,_ she thought, giving at the new piece a good look over for about a minuet before smiling and sitting down to finish her homework. In the end she had enough time to play her new game for about an hour, making it to the second gym. Saving her game, she smiled, before taking her watch off and switching to her sleeping gown. Lying down, she beamed. _I got to come home, and I got a new watch, and new game too. What is this, my birthday?_ She asked herself.

The last of her thoughts where on her Pokemon team. "Cyndaquill, Zubat, Mareep, Slowpoke, and Sandshrew, what a great team," she whispered in her sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_I knew better than to ask mom to bring me to school this early in the morning!_ The thought entered her mind randomly as she nibbled on her second morning doughnut, at least she would not be tempted to get a third as two was the limit. _And normally I hate sweets,_ she muttered internally, though in truth it wasn't in so much that she hated them as she was terribly self conscious of her body weight and did not wish to get it off balance.

After she found herself done eating, she stretched and then turned around to find a boy standing close behind her. "Um, excuse me, can you help me miss?" He asked.

"Certainly," Hanoashi smiled. "What do you need help with?" He had soft blond spiky hair and a tan build with darker green eyes, and was wearing a tee-shirt with a classic Atari 2600 on it, though his well toned muscles betrayed the fact that he wasn't a stereotypical no-exercise nerd.

"Well, I'm trying to find classroom Standard B-29, but I'm a bit frightened of getting lost. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?"

Nodding, the ginger rose. "Sure, I can take you there." She then grabbed her book-bag and smiled, motioning for him to follow. He picked up his own bag and trailed her, and they eventually found it after much walking.

"Thank you so much for showing me the way," he bowed. "If there's anything I can do to help you, let me know."

She gave him a polite nod in return. "Well, um... do you want to be friends with me?" She asked, causing him to smile. "Absolutely," he replied before extending his hand to her. "Name's Tyrone," He introduced.

"Hanoashi," she replied, accepting his hand shake. "Hey, listen, I have two other friends I'd like to introduce you too. Wanna come?" After he accepted they made their way to the cafeteria and sat down to wait for her friends. Hanoashi checked her watch, and frowned. "We won't have much time to talk if they don't arrive in," She paused as she was interrupted by Shino.

"Hey Hanoashi...whoa!" She literately jumped back a second. "Wh...who is this?" she asked, nervous. The redhead had no idea why her friend would be this nervios around him."

"Oh, this is Tyrone, he and I became friends just now. You know him?"

Shino shook her head. "No, I'm just surprised to see you talking around guys is all, no offense." She then turned to the guy. "My name is Shino Asada," she bowed politely.

 _Come to think of it, why was it that I never hung around guys that much_? Hanoashi asked herself. Shrugging the thoughts off, she simply watched them interact, making sure to interact with them.

"And so this guy says, you know, I'm really enjoying this Goldeen Pokemon. But every since I've learned he evolves at level 32, I've had a Seaking feeling about it." Shino and Hanoashi both burst out in a fit of laughter at the joke. Even though Shino wasn't really a gamer, Hanoashi had given her a 2DS and a copy of Pok'emon diamond and every since then Shino had been hooked. Supposedly she had even completed the game three times now in the past five months the two had been friends.

"What's so funny?" Keiko asked, walking up to the three. After a quick introduction, both to Tyrone and the joke, Kieko let out a chuckle. "That's a good one," she purred.

As the bell rang Kieko and Hanoashi went their separate ways, and Shino, pleased to have a new class mate being Tyrone, headed in the opposite direction. As she went in, the teacher gave her a nod. "Would you mind passing out the reports?" she asked, and Hanoashi nodded, and began the process. Once she was done she took her own report and looked at it, smiling at the result.

"So what's you get?" Kieko asked eagerly.

Secound best in class," Hanoashi beamed before looking a bit downcast... "but..."

"What's wrong?" Kieko asked her gently.

She shook her head. "It's nothing, I just can't believe it is all." she reassured her. Class came and went and Shino joined them for lunch. "Thanks for introducing me to the new guy, he's been a great help on our project," she whispered to Hanoashi.

She smiled at her ebony haired friend. "Oh, it was no problem Shino," She whispered back as he joined them. "So how was everyone's day so far?" He asked.

Hanoashi just shrugged. "Placed second best in class," she admitted, causing both Shino and Tyrone to gasp. "You seem kinda mellow about it," Shino finally got out.

The ginger shrugged again. "Everything was just too easy, so it's not a big deal to me. Like an easy video game, if there is no challenge, it looses meaning quickly."

"I got 15th place, but then again everyone seems to have good averages. Mine was 79," Kieko piped up.

Tyrone beamed "That's pretty good Kieko," he complimented.

Shino nodded. "I'm right behind you at 77," She admitted, before looking at Hanoashi expectantly. "What was your score by the way?"

"92."

Gasp where once again herd from Tyrone and Shino. "No way, you got a 92!" Kieko nodded. "At first I couldn't believe it myself, but it's true."

"How?" Shino asked, her eyes glittering with curiosity.

 _Because I've been through middle school before. And most of High school too._ However, Hanoashi did not want to reveal this fact, for several reasons. Between the fact that her friends would not believe her, much less might distance themselves from her if they did, and that her memories as Blaze where now so far away most of the time she could not even be completely sure that she was even him half the time.

Unfortunately that did not mean the head knowledge Blaze had went away with time. And while most would consider extra knowledge a blessing, to Hanoashi, it made her feel like a cheater. Even as Blaze, she did not like to cheat, outside of occasionally messing around in a single player game, and the fact that her extra knowledge made her feel this way caused her to sometimes wish she did not have the knowledge.

Hanoashi settled for another shrug. "Not really too sure, I do a lot of studying sometimes but other than that... it just seems to come to me." She then look down, thoroughly embarrassed.

Kieko quickly changed the subject. "Hey, did any of you hear about this new Sword art online game that's coming out for the Nervegear?"

 _Wait... Sword art online... then that mean... Oh no! No no no no no no no no a thousand times no!_ Hanoashi had to stop herself from trembling. "Um... no, I haven't," she began, before she actually let out a shudder. Rising up, she gave them a reassuring smile. "I'll be back in a bit, Please fill me in on this game when I get back, alright?" She then exited the cafeteria and entered the bathroom.

And she cried a bit. _"No... it's not fair. Kieko, what ever you do... please don't...please."_ Then the tears came down. _Kirito, Asuna, Rosalia... POH... it's... it's all real."_ However, she quickly wiped her eyes and actually went too the bathroom, before washing slightly in the mirror to cover up the signs of her meltdown. _Boy I'm glad I don't wear make-up,_ she thought, smiling as she her complexion returned to it's per-conversation self. The bell rang and she sighed and headed back to class. Sitting beside Kieko, she gave her a small reassuring smile to show her that she was alright.

After school, she was sitting on the buss with Kieko. "So, it's a virtual reality game where you fight mobs and floor bosses with ancient and medieval melee weapons? Sounds pretty cool," Hanoashi commented.

Kieko glanced at her. "You don't seem as excited about it as I thought you'd be?" Kieko mummered.

Giving her a sigh, Hanoashi glanced down. "Don't get me wrong Kieko, it's not that I'm excited, rather it's that I'm not too sure that this nerve gear."

Kieko shrugged. "I don't think there's anything to worry about it."

 _No! There is everything to worry about it!_ Hanoashi mentally screamed, but before she could say something else, her stop came in. "Well, here's my stop for today, gotta visit my mom," She said, getting up but glancing back at Kieko. "I'll... think about it." she added, stepping off the ladders.

Running up to her moms townhouse, she knocked on the door, her mom appearing at the door. "Oh honey It's so good to see you!" she beamed, before hugging the redhead.

"It's good to see you too mom," Hanoashi smiled, before the two broke off their embrace. Walking in, they sat down together. "Now... your birthday is coming up and I was wondering what you wanted me to get you."

Hanoashi shrugged. _I know I'm going to regret this!_ "Well, I've heard about this Sword art online game that is coming out, thing is, they are only releasing 15,000 copies in the first wave and the first 1,000 copies are reserved for the beta testers.

Her mom beamed at her. "Already taken care of honey!" She beamed, before handing her two boxes.

"Wait... what?" Hanoashi gaped, staring at the Nervegear box and Sword art online beta box.

Her mom smiled. "The official beta won't start but they do have the first floor open for the Alpha testers... and your in!" Her mom paused as Hanoashi hugged her, thanking her profusely.

Her mom beamed at her. "Atta girl! Now, get this thing set up! I want to hear what you think about this."

Nodding, Hanoashi headed up to her spare room and set the whole thing up. "Link Start," She spoke, her voice as nervousness as all getup. At once she felt herself falling, with a white background and green digital lines passing around her for a brief few seconds before appearing in a room.

"Welcome to Sword art online Alpha. As an Alpha tester, you will have access to the Alpha, the Beta, and dibs on one of the first 1,000 copies of the games. You will also be allowed to to keep one item from the Alpha, and if you log in during the Beta, one item from the Beta. Finally, during the Alpha, you may change your character as many times as you'd like. During the Beta, you will not be allowed to change your initial character, but you may change your character once the official game is released."

Hanoashi read through the list of things to test for the Alpha, and accepted the Terms and Agreement contract.

"Please enter your gender and the name you wish to be identified as," Hanoashi knew just what she wanted her name to be. "B...L...A...Z...E... Female"

"Now please customize your avatar."

Hanoashi switched her hair to a pony tail, and her hair color to Black, She then changed her eye color to blue and added a few centimeters to her height. After this she found herself in the game.

Buying a basic shield and a basic sword, she exited the town of beginnings and began to test the sword skills system. After she was satisfied with her results, she went back to the town of beginnings and tried out the rapier.

Interesting thing was the way the Alpha was set up. The first floor, though like mom said was open, was limited. You could explore the town, take on a few quest, fight some mobs, and test the starting weapons. Unlike in the Beta and official release, you could try all of the starter weapons, but you had to exchange your current weapon. There was few other weapons you could use, though, and each weapon only had three or four sword skills, unlike the full game which could have anywhere between eleven to eighteen skills per weapon.

By the time dinnertime arrived, Hanoashi had tested four of the weapons, so far enjoying the one handed sword with a shield the best so far. Pressing the log out button, she pulled off the helmet and let out a sigh. _Thank goodness I can log out!_ She sighed, and headed down to her mom's kitchen.

Several months had passed quickly for Hanoashi. The Beta was ending soon, and she had made her decisions on what items she wanted to keep. For her contributions for the Alpha, she kept the Anneal blade, for the beta she kept a teleport Chrystal, for safe keeping. She still didn't trust the ability to log out in game, but if she decided to actually go into the game, she wanted to be prepared.

Unfortunately, she now found herself running hurriedly through a rainstorm, trying to get home. She mentally scolded herself as she became thoroughly soaked. _At least my purse is waterproof,_ she told herself, passing by Shino's apartment on the way. _Perhaps Shino would let me stay with her the night,_ she mused, before streaking up the stairs and knocking on her door.

"Who is it... Gah!" Shino jumped back in surprise. "Jeez! Hanoashi, what are you doing out in this rain!" she whispered harshly. When Hanoashi looked down, her gaze softened. "Well... let's just get you dried up, you look pitiful," she whispered before letting her in.

"Th...th...thank you... Shino..." she managed to get out, the freezing rain causing her to shiver.

"Go get warm in the shower, I'll bring you some spare clothes," Hanoashi raised her hand before she could finish. "I have a spare gown and undies set I can wear. But a warm shower does sound good."

Shino gave her a nod of approval. "Well, then just set your wet clothes on the hamper when you come out, I'll wash and dry them for you. By the way, I'd rather you spend the night, the rain isn't going to stop till tomorrow."

Smiling, she ginger bowed. "Thank you Shino," she thanked gratefully.

"Oh, it's no problem! Besides your my best friend, I can't leave you in the rain like that. She then glanced at her friends purse and watch. "They going to be alright?"

Glancing at her watch, Hanoashi breathed a sigh of relief to see it still. She now had about five of this kind of watch, two gold colored and three silver colored ones. "Yeah, it's semi-waterproof and the purse is waterproof against rain so it's all good."

Smiling at her, Shino left her ginger friend to get situated. The shower felt nice and warm, soothing her, and when she had finished, she put her sports bra, undies, and gown on, before placing her watch back on her left wrist. She then sat down by Shino on the futon.

"If you'd like I can lend you a pair of my clothes," Shino offered, but Hanoashi shook her head. "No thinks, this will do for me. By the way, where do I sleep?"

Wherever you want to," Shino offered.

"Futon. You should have the bed."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. By the way, how are you and Tyrone doing?"

Shino blushed gently, but smiled. "He's been great," she beamed. About a month ago, Shino and Tyrone started dating, and the two have been close every since. Hanoashi was genuinely happy for the couple, but she now found herself wanting details of their escapades. _Now I know how Saori feels in Girls und Panzer. But... if anyone deserves happiness, it's Shino._

"That's good, cause if he ever hurts you, I'll have something to say for it."

Her friend gave a good laugh. "That's just like you, Hanoashi. But can you ever imagine him being the kind of person to hurt someone?"

Shaking her head, she didn't think so. "Even though he's muscle, he's as gentle as a butterfly."

"You know that from experience?" Shino teased, earning a small hiss from her friend.

"You're the one to experience that Shino," Hanoashi fired back goodheartedly, causing Shino once again to blush. "Wait... did you..."

Shino began to blush deeper. "Please don't tell anyone... we... we took a nap together," she managed to get out, her face scarlet red.

Hanoashi stared at the ebony girl for about thirty seconds, before bursting out in a fit of laughter. "Oh my gosh, your face is a red as a tomato!"

"No...No it isn't!" Shino fired back.

"Yes it is!"

"No...it...isn't!"

Hanoashi flashed her a mirror. "Look for yourself,"

Shino looked in the mirror and too her horror, found that it was red. "Holy crap you're right," she whispered.

"So... Details! Hanoashi begged."

"It was nothing, really," she began. "We where watching a romance when we both... just fell asleep."

Hanoashi shook her head. "You can't expect a guy to watch a romance and not fall asleep."she deadpanned.

"But...but he's so gentle, so I thought..."

"Excuses excuses Shino."

"Ugh!" Shino then thought of something. "Wanna try out SAO?" Hanoashi shook her head. "No thanks, mom told me last night she has it on order for me so I'm going to wait till it comes out. Besides, won't be long now."

Shino nodded. "About three weeks, then it's showtime."

Something about that phrase creeped the living daylight out of Hanoashi, but she could not place her finger on it. _Maybe something to do with my previous life... outside of head knowledge it's all murky._ Turning to Shino, she smiled. "Yep!"

After about another two hours of conversation, Shino left for bed, and Hanoashi decided to turn in as well. Taking her watch off and placing it in her purse, she then lied down and pulled the covers over her. _I really am blessed, aren't I._ She reflected, before letting out a shudder. _All of my friends are heading into SAO, loosing any one of them would be terrible... but losing all three of them?_

She'd be lying to herself if she said that she was not frightened.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'd like to thank everyone who favored, followed, and reviewed this story. You have provided me with much inspiration and encouragement, so thank you!**

Hanoashi glanced at the clock, smiling as 3:15 came around. "Okay, it's time," she muttered, before putting the nerve gear on. Having written several Sword art online fan fics as Blaze, she knew full well the consequences of going into Sword art online. And yet, here she was, about to willingly enter the death game.

The way she saw it, Hanoashi had three choices. One was to warn everyone, get seen as a nut, and then be viewed with suspicion on how the hell she knew it would happen. Two, she could ignore what she knew and be plagued with the guilt of doing nothing, especially since her friends where going into the game..

Or she could do what she was doing now, Go directly into the death game. Letting out a sigh, she reluctantly laid down and muttered the two words that would send her into the death game. "Link Start!"

She really did not want to go into the death game, but the knowledge of what would happen prevented her want backing out now. And besides, it was now officially too late. At least she would not have to worry about someone not taking her helmet off... at least she hoped. "216" people had died, due to that, and she did not want to be the 217th one to do so because of that.

A menu pop up soon appeared in front of her and she began editing her character. "Hm, let's see, Blaze, brown hair, brown eyes, and yep, everything else is the same," she muttered before hitting the okay icon. She opted to keep her hair style the same, which she had taken a cue from Yolko's hair style.

Arriving in the town of beginnings, first gazed herself over. She was wearing a blue short dress and a whiten layered skirt. Her shirt was frilled, looking quite far from that of a swords woman, with long, gathered sleeves, and a light yellowish cream in color. About the only thing rugged was her shoes, nice looking yet rugged. _Hm... not too bad, really._ She decided right away to not use her Anneal blade right off the bat, as she knew that would tip everyone off to the fact that she was in the beta.

Giving herself one last look, she went up to the market place and got herself her free basic starter sword. You could chose one weapon for free, and she had always preferred swords to the other kind of weapons. Sheathing her sword across her back, she ran out of the town intent on girding right away. Once out of the way, she readied herself and let out a Vopal strike, smiling as she managed to pull it off.

"I'm pretty sure you need to use that on an enemy, not on thin air," an amused voice resounded not too far away. She whipped around, before sheathing her sword coming face to face with Diavel.

"Yeah, I'm just making sure I could do the sword skill properly before I ran off to go grinding." she admitted. _Well, it's not entirely a lie,_ she told herself.

"Oh, that makes sense. Well, since you are here, how about we grind together. I was in the beta, so I could show you the ropes." he offered.

Blaze considered this, but then she remembered reading about a few of the things he had done. It didn't show in the anime, neither had she read the Manga or light novels, but she had read a lot of the information on the wiki, and as a result, she had an idea that teaming up with this beta tester would be a bit questionable. Plus, some of his friends where the one's calling for the beta's deaths after his death, and so she decided that she didn't want to be involved with that. Not to mention that Diavel would most likely compel her to join up with his guild once the death game started, and there was another group she'd rather join up with than his group.

"Um, thanks for the offer, but I'd like to try this game out on my own for a bit," she replied, before walking off.

"Oh, okay. Let me know if you change your mind!" he called.

Blaze gave him a thumbs up before starting a brisk sprint. Seeing a lone boar, she activated her Vopal strike skill once again, taking the boar out with one shot. "Sweet, usefulness!" she cried happily, before forgetting something. Opening her menu real quick, she went over to her skills and quickly chose one handed sword and cooking as her starting skills. One handed sword was obvious, and as for cooking, she kinda wanted to provide for herself with the meat she acquired in the field, though she wouldn't mind cooking for a small guild or friends from time to time.

Smiling, she closed her menu, before noticing a group of two boars up ahead. "Let's do this!" she shouted, before charging at them, knocking the tusk off of one of the boars. Reacting quickly, she jabbed at the same boar, before jumping back and slashing at the target, surprised at how quickly it shattered into pieces. She then remembered Kirito's words from the anime. _These boars the the games equivalent of slimes._ Gazing around quickly as she dodged the charge from the remaining boar, she let out her third Vopal strike for the day, her aim remaining true as she slashed right trough the enemy.

"Congratulations, you've got a boar's pelt, one boars meet, and 65 Col," She read quietly, before closing the menu, before gazing around. Twelve boars later, she had reached level two, and gotten enough money for a hotel room and cooking equipment. Though, the later would come later. Checking the time, she noticed it was about 4:20. Deciding to make sure her suspicions where right, she looked for the log out button.

"Yep! It's missing. Damn!" she muttered, before shrugging and running toward the town. _I must have needs find them!_ She thought determinedly, racing through the streets so see if she could find the people she was looking for. "No, that's not them... not them either. Drat! Where the track are they?" she muttered, right before a glowing light enveloped before her.

Even though Blaze had been expecting this, she was still scared... a person of lesser tactfulness would describe it as being scared shirtless. However, pushing down her fright, though just barely, she gazed around, frowning as she failed to notice the group she wanted to join. _Well maybe I can find them later... oh well._ She reached up and grabbed a lock of her brown hair briefly. "So long to being a brunette," she whispered, though just barely audible. Deep down, she knew this was a ploy, dying her hair brown. She actually liked her original hair color, even though back as a boy if he had a choice he'd prefer having brown hair. But being a red head was rather nice, and her green eyes and light freckles matched it perfectly.

Beside her, a very familiar looking guy stood, just as frightened as everyone else. _He looks similar to Dyne, but... a teenager, like me._ She then wondered briefly if he was wanting to play as a younger kid or if she inadvertently entered an alternate universe. _Heck, why would I wonder about that. I mean... I'm here, so Duh!_

"Hey, do you know what's going on here?" She asked him, trying to make conversation. He simple shook his head as the sky turned red. Seeing this in an anime was one thing, seeing the blood pour out to form into a hooded game master for yourself was another. Jeez _! This is too creepy!_ She thought, now grossed out.

"You have entered my world," he continued, while Blaze kept glancing at the guy beside him. _You must help him,_ a small voice cried out to her. She shook her head to clear it, but by the time she had turned her attention back to the game master avatar, an item appeared in her inventory.

Blaze's avatar suddenly changed back to her real self, though she really didn't mind. Turning to the Dyne looking guy beside her, she realized that he was indeed a teenager, like she was. She grabbed his shoulders to drive him out of his stupor. "Hey, listen, now that this is a death game, a person needs someone to work with. You have anyone?"

He blinked at her and shook his head. She gave him a small nod and moved back a step. "Then let us work together on clearing this game, okay?" she asked.

He hesitated, but then nodded and extended his hand. "Name's Dyne." He introduced himself.

"Blaze, very nice to be working with you," She smiled, before shaking his hand.

"So...um... what now. I just logged on about thirty minuets ago," he admitted. Blaze sighed to herself. "We should go to one of the inns, there we can rest and prepare for tomorrow." She then realized something. "But... I don't really have enough col for a two-bed room nor two rooms, so we'd have to share a bed or risk grinding some more but with everyone in their current state I'd rather wait a bit before mob hunting.

"I...I can sleep on the floor," He offered. Blaze shook her head. "No, it'll be alright. If it's for tonight only, I can manage. Or, I could sleep on the floor, I don't mind."

Dyne shook his head. "Maybe we can grind stay close to town, I mean... most everyone is in a stupor right now," he pointed out.

Blaze was about to disagree, when she noted a person she knew in real life. _Kieko._ "If we can invite her to come with us, I'd feel a lot better about grinding right now," she admitted. "I knew her in real life, so we can trust her."

Dyne gazed at her. "Do you trust me?" he asked hesitantly.

Blaze placed her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Yes, I do. Which is exactly why I don't want to risk us grinding by ourselves with everyone the way they are. With two, it's too risky. But between us three, if she joins, we are much safer."

He gave her a smile. "Thank you, for trusting me." He then gazed at the frightened girl. "Let's invite her then," he decided.

Giving him a small reassuring smile, she made her way over to the now sobbing girl. "Psst, Keiko, it's me, Hanoashi,"she replied gently

"Ha...Hanoashi?" She asked, before hugging her. "How... how could this have happened?"

"I don't know, but... Listen, me and Dyne here are going to work together to help clear the game. Do...do you think you could join us? We'd really appreciate it is you could, and there is safety in numbers."

Kieko glanced at the teen whom was hanging back to give them some space, then at Hanoashi, before nodding. "Okay, I'm in," she accepted, her voice filled with determination before looking at Hanoashi quizzically. "I'm guessing your SN isn't Hanosahi, is it?" she whispered.

She shook her head. "Blaze now."

"Blaze? Interesting. My name is Silica now, by the way," Keiko reveled.

"Silica, huh? The name suits you." She then turned to Dyne. "Silica, meet Dyne. Dyne, meet Silica,"

After introductions where made, they began to make their way out of town, but before they did, Blaze suddenly took off. Silica and Dyne where so startled by this that they called out to her before they shay what she was doing. They found her catching a guy who had just tried to commit suicide via jumping, and rushed over to her, before helping her pull him up.

As he recovered, he glared at them, before trying to jump again, but Blaze grabbed him and put him in a weak but firm choke hold. "Just what do you think you're doing?" She demanded of him.

"Let me go! My friends are already dead, so what is the point!" He shouted.

"You Baka, don't you think your friends would rather you try and beat the game so that you could live rather than to commit suicide?" she demanded sharply. "I know I would!" she added softly.

The guy, whom I was so sure I knew from the anime, sloped down, before crying. "You're right... I know your right... but it's just so hard, with them being gone..."

Not knowing what else to do, Blaze simply embraced him in a hug, trying to comfort him the best she knew how. "It's okay, I'm not going to leave you," she whispered.

After about 15-teen minuets, he was calmed down. "What should I do now?" he asked, breaking off gently. "Join us, the more of us they are, the safer we'll be," Blaze pointed out, as her two current companions nodded in agreement.

"Okay, yeah, I'll do that... if you're all sure it's okay. By the way, my name is Kieta.

Kieta _? Then that means... oh no!_ Blaze shuddered. _I was too late!_ She wailed. Fortunately, she was able to hide her distress well. "Just a bit cold." she reassured, before giving him a smile. " Kieta eh? Blaze is my name, very nice to be working with you," She beamed, before extending her hand. He shook it, smiling.

During this time Silica had been messaging. "Sinon and Criser have agreed to join us, they are waiting at the northeast town gate. "But... I don't know how to get there," she added despairingly.

Blaze let out a sigh. "I...I know how to get there. I... I was in the Beta...and the Alpha." she admitted, to the surprise of her three companions. "But... this... this death game... I never imagined this was his intention," she then broke down in tears, instantly being comforted by her friends.

"Blaze, it doesn't matter if you where in the beta, you didn't know this would happen," Kieta whispered, with Dyne nodding. Silica just hugged her.

"You guys," Blaze whispered, before giving them a nod of determination. "Alright, let's get to Sinon and Criser, we need to get as much col and experience as we can." They began running toward the entrance gate but Blaze once again paused as she noted someone crying on the bench.

"Diavel?" she asked, walking up to him. He glanced up, his brown hair dangling along his ears. "Blaze?" He rose up to meet her. "Have you come to blame me too?" he asked despairingly.

Shaking her head no, she put her hand on her shoulder. "No... truth is, I was a beta too." she admitted. "What happened to your friends?" she asked.

Shuddering, he leaned into her shoulder. "They...they left me Blaze." Instantly Blaze embraced him in a comforting hug. "Join us then." she whispered.

"Huh?"

"We're going to make a guild to help out the other players. I'd appreciate it if you could join us," she explained, and his eyes brightened. "You...you sure you don't mind a Beta in your group? I...I mean..."

Blaze shook her head. "I don't give a damn, actually. Beta or not, we should be helping each other, not bellyaching about who was or wasn't in the beta. Besides, I'd be a big hypocrite if I rejected beta testers."

Diavel smiled at her weakly. "We need a leader like you Blaze." he mummered, before extending his hand. "I'm in."

"Glad to have you with us."

Sinon and Criser gasped as five people met them instead of just two. "We have enough here to form a full party, and a guild," Blaze smiled.

"I can see that, but I'd like to know how you managed to pick Diavel up?" Sinon pointed out. " Wasn't he was going to form a guild up with his friends.

Looking down, the knight sighed. "They...they left me once they remembered I was a beta tester." He admitted. Sinon frowned at this, but patted his shoulder gently. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that. You'll be safe with us, though. Truth is, both me and Criser where beta's too."

Making their way out of town, the seven soon found themselves facing off against wild boars. "Okay, who's at level one? Kieta, Dyne and Kieko gave them a nod. "Okay, first order of business is getting you to level two. Sinon, Dyne, and Diavel, you three split up and look around for a hunting spot. Kieta, Silica, Dyne, you need to temporarily leave this party and create one among yourselves, I'll act as back-up. Once you reach level two, we'll rejoin under one party again. Got it?"

Six nods later she was left with the one levelers. "Okay, here is what you do..." After a brief explanation on combat and how to use sword skills, they began making steady progress, making it to level two in about an hour.

"There is an excellent hunting spot not too far from here, we can reach it in about 20 minuets," Sinon reported. "Excellent, let's take a few minuets to catch our breath and regroup, then we'll head out right away."

Silica let out a sigh. "Just how much hunting are we going to do tonight?" she asked.

"Well, I was hoping we could have everyone at least at level three, if not level four. Plus... we're going to need a lot of col," she added.

That's when Diavel gazed at her. "By the way, didn't we keep an item from the beta? Perhaps we should share what we kept." he suggested, before equipping his kite shield.

Blaze smiled before producing her basic starter shield and her Anneal Blade. "I'll take you and Silica on the quest to get the blade in a few days. Right now, I want to focus on col reserves and exp though," She promised, before placing her blade back in her inventory.

"Thanks... but why are you not using it now," Silica asked, curious.

"Two reasons. One, that flashed beta, Not that I mind people knowing neither do I mind hanging about the betas, but it's better to keep it to yourself than to yell it too the universe."

Diavel nodded, but Silica Dyne and Kieta gazed at her evenly. "But you told us you where in the beta right off the bat." they pointed out.

Chuckling, Blaze just shrugged. "Hey, if we're teaming up together to form a guild, I didn't want any secrets between us on my account that might cause a division." she admitted. After receiving a few oh's, she then nodded. "As for my other reason, well, the Anneal Blade has durability that I have to worry about, while the basic sword does not." She then rose up. "Alright, let's get too hunting," she replied, receiving nods from her fellow warriors."

Blaze could not believe what Sinon had found. Standing right in front of her group, was a massive congregation of wild boars, there must have been about thirty of them at least, if not more. "Okay, do we wanna charge or try and distract them?" she asked. After receiving four charge votes and two distract votes, she closed her eyes. "Okay, we'll flank them. Silica, Dyne, Diavel, you are with me. Everyone else, hit the opposite side." Getting into position they then charged the enemy.

Blocking one of the boars with her shield, she then stabbed, smiling as she boar shattered into a million pieces. Quick as a flash, she switched to another boar, quickly dispatching it. "This is too easy Blaze!" Silica smiled, dangerously forgetting in her excitement the penalty of loosing all your HP."

Blaze smiled. "Just don't forget the consequences of losing," She cautioned, hacking through her third boar.

Silica dispatched her forth. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten," she replied, though she mentally berated herself as she had actually forgotten momentarily.

Diavel smiled as he hacked through his sixth boar. "We've almost got this," he reported, before Kieta held a worried look cross his face. "Um... what is that?" He asked, pointing over to a massive boar, about five feet tall.

"That's the first mini-boss!" Sinon beamed, before turning to Blaze. "Blaze, this is perfect, we can beat it right now with no problems!"

Blaze glanced quickly at her guild before nodding. "Okay, Beta's on me, first timer's, back us up." She decided, Having Dyne, Silica and Kieta fall back.

Unleashing their various sword skills, Diavel, Blaze, Sinon and Criser quickly brought the boar down into the red, One handed swords, curved sword, and Rapier barely finishing their moves when the first timers moved in, dagger, spear, and one handed ax finishing off the boar. "Did...did we really just beat the mini-boss," Silica breathed.

"We did Silica, We really did," Blaze breathed, gazing around briefly before a reword screen popped up on her screen. "Level...level five?" she stammered.

"Me too," Sinon and Criser admitted before glanced at each other and blushed. The entire guild couldn't help but laugh at their antics. "Well, it looks like everyone is at least level four or five, so we should head back," she mentioned much to the relief of her companions. "Man, that fight took the wind out of me. I'm glad we have Blaze leading us," Sinon mummered, with agreements from everyone but Blaze.

 _Wait... I'm leading and they are okay with this?_ Blaze asked herself. "You are okay with leading us, right? Silica asked her. Blaze nodded. "If you want me to, sure," she answered, strangely calm about the situation even though she normally hated having a position of power.

"Alright, we need to figure out what we are going to do about inns," Blaze began as they sat down for a dinner."

Taking a bite out of her mash potatoes, Sinon smiled for a bit. "Me and Criser would like to share a room, if that's alright."

Blaze nodded. "Of course, that's fine with me. I'll be sharing a room with Silica, then," she decided, before turning to the other three boys. "one of you will have a room to yourselves, how shall we decide this?" she inquired.

After a quick game of rock paper scissors, Curved ended up having a room to himself. Dinner was soon over, Blaze soon finding herself resting in a hotel room with Silica lying on her bed opposite of her. "I still can hardly we're trapped in SAO," her friend remarked. "Almost like we are in prison."

"Yeah... in prison," Blaze mumured, mentally shuddering at the memory it triggered. _If only jail was really like this, maybe I wouldn't have been bored so much during those nine hours. But... then would it really be a punishment?_ She shook her head. "Well, maybe it's not that bad, but it does kinda feel that way," Blaze added softly.

"Still, we can't see our families, and we could... no we'll just have to keep getting stronger and being careful." Silica noted.

"Exactly. But we should really get to sleep, though. Today was rough and grinding to level six is going to take a few days." The saw SAO was set up, grinding to the next level wasn't static, but dynamic. The first five levels where easy, you could get to level five in one day, but getting to level six through nine took a few days each. Then, going by first floor standards, you needed about a week for level ten through twelve.

"Your right Blaze... Goodnight,"

"Good night Silica," Blaze mummured, pretending to go to asleep until she was sure Silica was asleep. _You don't deserve to be here Silica... not like this,"_ she thought sadly, looking at her friend. _Dammit! My best friend is stuck in this death game because I didn't say anything! There must be something I can do..._ But there really wasn't anything she could do. Even if she could, it was likely that Sinon and Criser would be stuck in SAO all the same. Blaze was not too sure that her or Silica could stand that their best friends where stuck in the death game.

 _I guess the only thing to do is to try and beat the game,_ she whispered to herself, before sleep finally overtook her.


	5. Chapter 5

Despite only needing to get one Anneal Blade, the red head had decided that taking her entire party on the quest was better than going it alone with Diaval. Now, as she slashed another of the neptets, she was rather glad she had.

"What exactly happened here, Kirito?" Blaze asked, as she blocked another nepet with her shield.

"I don't know Blaze, me and Coper where doing just fine and all of the sudden they showed up," he growled. "Nagh!" Millions of polygons shattered as Kirito's starter blade expelled yet another netpet.

"This is why people should not go solo," Heathcliff, an elderly looking gentelmen with a gray ponytail stated, as he killed his own opponent. "Seriously Kirito, most everyone is teaming up with someone, you should too."

"But I'm a solo player," He protested.

"Oh just team up with him already," Blaze commanded. "It's not like it's going to hurt you to try," she added, before taking another slash. _Proofff_.

"Ok ok Blaze, you don't have to be that way... but I'm only doing it for safety reasons."

Heathcliff gave a sigh. "That's a start," he muttered, before slashing at the last of the netpets around him.

"If your done and are in good health, we could use a small break over here," Blaze's companions called out, though they where not the only ones. The Battlefire Lions guild had joined them after Blaze had called them for back-up. Lead by a golden hared teenager named Leopon, they had rushed over to the scene and helped most of the Shadowclan volunteers take out the remaining nepets.

"Coming," Leopon replied, before charging in, the upcoming Knights of the Blood oath joining them.

 **Eight days Earlier:**

"Alright everyone, I'd like to thank you for coming," Blaze replied, smiling at everyone. "As you already know, Sword art online was not what it was promised. Now that we've had about two weeks, I think it's time we come up with a plan to beat the game."

Her new friend and strongest supporter, Leopon, stood up beside her. "Me and Blaze have been talking, and we've determined that the best course of action would be an assault force composed of several guilds."

"There are no limits to how many guilds can join the assault force, but we will have to pick and chose which members can support what task in boss battles." Blaze then nodded. "In addition to to the assault force, we should also have a few axillary guilds later on who specialize in handling issues such as player killers, helping to resolve conflicts when possible, and other things. These axillary guilds will also assist in clearing the dungeon and boss battles, but primary they will be used to help the dedication guilds avoid having to interrupt progress with clearing the dungeon."

"It's about time someone thought about these kinds of things," A red haired man with a short beard stood up. "My name is Klien and I run the Furinkazin. Before I begin, I have one question. Is it possible to leave the assault team if an issue comes up?"

Leopon nodded. "Me and Blaze discussed this before, and to answer your question, yes. If any guild feels they are under leveled, undermanned, underrepresented or if the fount lines become too corrupt, then they may leave on their own free will. Later on they may rejoin if they wish."

Another man stood up. "who will lead the assault team?"

Blaze decided to take this one up. "Since it was mine and Leopon's idea, we'll lead for the first few floors so that all the guilds can get an idea on how to do things. Later on, all the guilds and their members will vote on a front line leader."

"The voting rules are simple, whoever you vote for must have a guild of at east seven people. You must vote for the leader or vice commander of the guild, and you can not vote for your own guild." Leopon added.

Four men and four woman then stepped forward.

"I am Heathcliff of the Knights of the Blood Oath, and I will join the assault team."

"I am Klien of the Furinkazin, and I will join the assault team."

"I am Rosalia of the Titan's Hand, and I will join the assault team,"

"I am Thinker of the Ancrad Liberation army and I will join the assault team."

"I am Grzilda of the Golden Apple, and we will join the assault team as an axillary guild. "

"I am Speagal of the Estoc Snipers, and we will also join the assault team as an axillary guild"

"We of the Sleeping knights would like to join as an axillary guild"

"We of the Tanker's fandom will also join you."

Blaze and Leopon bowed to the eight guilds whom just agreed to join them. "We of the Shaodwclan Volunteers and Battlefire Lions are thankful for you joining with us. Together, we can beat this game."

As Blaze met with the individual guild leaders and members, she was hopeful yet half dreading the situation. The Incrad liberation army had had a few issues, Titan's Hand had been a red guild, and the leader of the sleeping knights, Zekken, had Aids in the anime. However, things had already taken a drastic turn already. For starters, Kiabou wasn't with the ILA, something she suspected had caused a lot of issues beforehand. Rosalia had joined the assault fully knowing full well that the Assult team alxerlly guilds would be dealing with red players, so hopefully that will help her to avoid becoming the orange guild leader she had been.. Then there is the fact that Zekken and her younger sister, Jadan, had mentioned using regular nerve gear helmets, not the mecuboied which caused her some doubts if the rules of the anime applied to this AU.

 **Present day:**

After dispatching the last of the netpets, Blaze breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, we've got them, that's for sure."

Heathcliff smiled. "jeez, look at how many of the quest items we've got," he remarked. Blaze beamed, but then he frowned. "How are we going to do this?"

"Well, they are fifteen Annal blades available, I say we redeem one each for our gulds, excluding Kirito." She then turned to him and Heathcliff. "Since he was already taking on the quest beforehand, he doesn't count."

"But what about the Shadowclan Volunteers," Leopon asked. "You and Davail where in the same boat."

"Me and Davail are the only ones using one handed swords in our guild, And since I already have mine from the beta, I don't need one," she pointed out.

"Well then, since the Liberation Army has fourteen members, we should give them two, as the rest of us have under eight members," Leopon added. "Yeah, that is fair,"

After redeeming Twelve of the anneal blazes, the groups called for a meeting among the guild leaders, all agreeing to meet at 6 PM near the town wall. "Okay, we have a gift for the guilds," Blaze admitted, before handing the guilds who where not present their blades. "Give these blades to your members as you see fit. "Oh, and we gave the Liberation army an extra sword since they have twice the members, I hope that's okay with everyone,"

After thanks, the dedication guilds headed to their hotels to get some rest. Blaze sighed as she laid down and fell asleep. _Tomorrows the big day,_ she thought before drifting.

Morning sunlight fluttered through the widow as Blaze stretched, her messy red hair falling along her back. Quickly brushing it, she smiled before waking her fiend. "Silica, it's time for the clearing raid," she whispered, shaking her quietly.

Letting her friend get ready, she waited in the cafe for her guild members to assemble. "We're meeting with the dedication guilds at ten AM sharp, so make sure you've eaten and have anything you want to buy on hand by then," she told them before getting herself some breakfast.

"It is good to see you again Blaze," Leopon smiled as the two embraced in a friendly hug. "Likewise old friend, Blaze smiled, before Leopon broke off as Heathcliff arrived. Instead of hugging him she mildly shook his hand, but afterwards did a double take. "Kirasuna?" she whispered. The black haired Onix eyed Leopon look alike nodded. "I logged on after I heard the news," she admitted.

 _Sisters... that was not what I was expecting,_ Blaze thought, not too sure to be happy or sad for Leopon. On one hand, she could visit with her sister yet on the other hand, she could easily lose her sister. Greetings where soon done with and the three guilds headed out, eager to get this floor cleared. With any luck, they'd be able to challenge the boss, and move on to the second floor in no time. By the looks of it, the Sleeping knights also joined up with them."

"Alright, let's keep on the alert, we don't know for sure what we will run into, so be sure to be careful," Blaze whispered before entering the labyrinth. Monster after monster fell before the might of the combined guilds. "We should come by here for training," Kirasuna commented, but Leopon shook her head. "No, the re-spawn rate drops very drastically after the floors have been cleared, so it's not very effective. For one or two people, maybe, but not a whole guild not to mention four of them."

Kriasuna sighed. "well, I suppose your right." A one handed girl placed her right hand on her shoulder as her left hand and forearm was missing. "Don't worry, I'm still getting use to all this as well, so your not alone." she whispered. "Kaysachi's the name, by the way, she added softly, before moving on.

"Stop! There,s a massive gulf up ahead," Heathcliff called. Leopon gave around quickly, but Sinon noticed it's first. "There's a lever, shall we activate it?"

Nodding to give her body guard permission, Sinon pulled the lever and a stone bridge shot out, nearly causing what felt like a small earthquake. "My gosh, I bet even the town of Tobana felt that!" Zekken stated, though she had a slight smile on her face. "Welp! Onwards we go!" she nearly charged before Jaden grabbed her collar. "

You will stay cautions and you will stay with the group. Got it sis?" she questioned seriously.

Zekken nodded. "Sorry sister, guess I got carried away."

Jaden nodded. "It's okay, just be more careful, I don't wanna lose my sis to this game," she replied before crossing first. "It's okay guys, all clear on the other side."

Blaze gulped as she crossed the bridge. "Nervousness?" Leopon asked glancing around nervously.

"I don't like heights. Guessing you don't like em either?"

Leopon shook her head as she crossed the threshold. "Never did and never will." she simply stated, before closing her eyes. "Glad that's over," she muttered to herself.

"Hey, what's that massive door up ahead?" Kaysachi asked. Leopon smiled. "Hot Laim, we haz found teh boss room!" she smiled, glancing at Zoro. "You've got the map data?"

Zoro nodded behind his hood. "All's here," he replied, before sending the data to everyone.

Blaze beamed. "Okay, let's rest up today and tomorrow. After tomorrow, we'll reconvene and take down the boss," she decided.

On the way back, Heathcliff noticed someone. "Who's that kid over there" he asked, before his guild went over to her. "She looks tired out," he muttered. "Kriasuna, can you carry her back to our inn, I believe you opted for a two bed room and currently have no roommate." Nodding, the black hared Leopon carried her, and Blaze and her squad followed.

 **POV switch, Kriasuna**

She watched her with worried eyes, placing another wet rag on the girl's forehead. "I wonder what you did to get so tired?" she whispered, before standing back as the girl stirred. "Where am I... and how did I get here?"

Kriasuna gazed at her for a brief moment. She had beautiful chestnut hair and amber eyes, her voice was somewhat soft, and if her facial features where following any standards, she was around fourteen or fifteen, like herself. "Our guild found you zonked out in the dungeon. We... we decided to bring you back to our inn so you can rest safely. By the way, I was the one who carried you back," she pointed out.

The chestnut haired girl blinked at her before everything registered. "You didn't do anything bad to me... did you?" she asked, looking frightened. Kriasuna shook her head. "The knights of the Blood oath are taught to respect other players, so no. Besides, you needed help and we decided to help."

Looking down, the girl sighed. "Knights of the blood oath?" she asked. Nodding, Kriasuna then explained about Blaze's formation of the front lines and the KOB. "Heathcliff says you are welcome to join if you like, by the way."

"Does that mean he expects me to join?"

"Not at all, he just wanted to offer."

"Well... okay, but how do I join?"

"I'll take you our leader, Heathcliff, and he'll handle the rest. By the way, the guilds won't officially be recognized in game till floor three, but we are viewing the situation as if they already are." Kirasuna then had a thought strike her mind. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

"Asuna."

"Asuna huh, that's a good name. Mine is Kriasuna,"

"Kriasuna?"

 **Blaze POV**

Gathering her strength at the door, she let out a small sigh as she mentally prepared herself. "Alright guys, let's beat this boss and make it back in one piece, alright? And remember, this isn't about last attack bonuses or glory, it's about beating the game and getting everyone back home alive."

Hearing a hurah from her fellow members, she opened the door. "Blood oath, Tanker's fandom, keep those minions off of us! Every one else, keep a sharp eye out on the boss. Remember that things might have changed form the beta!," she reminded them, before scoring a hit on the boss.

Slash after slash, blow after blow, the assault team dwindled the boss's health, while the Oath and the Fandom kept the Kobalt sentinels off of them. The Kobolt Lord, or Lard as both Blaze and Leopon kept calling him, kept aiming at one of the members, only for his attacks to be blocked by a shield or some pole weapon like a spear or two handed long ax. Finally, his health got into the red.

"He should be switching to a Talwar right about now," Davail mentioned to everyone.

"Wait! Let's be sure first. I doubt that Kayaba would just leave everything like it was in the beta," she argued, right as Illfang pulled out an Odachi. "Guess you where right Blaze, Diavail mummered, before adjusting his attack patterns accordingly.

Blaze smiled, as she and the others went on a mad dash, hitting Illfang mostly with full blown swords skills now rather than the regular blows and a few swords skills in the mix. Finally, the boss shattered into a million pieces, and Kirito was revealed to have received the last attack bonus. He placed the coat on and gazed around as people congratulated him.

"Nice work dude!"

"Congratulations!"

"What a beautiful coat you got there,"

However, it was only when a certain word came out that he seemed to come alive. "Oni-chan!" Turning around he found himself face to face with a girl who looked a lot like him, but with a larger bust and green-gray eyes, and a blond ponytail hairstyle.

"Su,...sister?" he gulped, almost calling her by her in real life name.

"Yep! I gotta say, sneaking the fact that I had a nerve gear and a copy of SAO past you was a challenge. Oh, by the way, name is Leafa now."

"Kirito," he replied, before embracing her with a hug. "Don't you know how dangerous the dungeon and boss room is?" he asked.

She nodded, but smiled. "I know, when we herd the sounds of battle, we got curious," she admitted and about four people came in. "This is Recon, Sakoya, Allice, and Allue," she introduced. We're the Undine alliance guild and we where wanting to join up with the front lines, but we couldn't find you guys anywhere and figured you'd be mapping the dungeon."

Blaze smiled. "We'd be honored to have the Undine Alince with us," she beamed. _That makes our eleventh guild,_ she thought happily.

"There's several more guilds considering joining up with you. Once they've heard that you've cleared the first floor, I'm sure they'll sign up," Leafa admitted, casing Blaze to become even more happier.

"That's excellent news. Well, we'd best activate the town's telliport gate, so that people can go between the two floors without having to exhaust themselves." Blaze then began the trek up the stairs before looking back. "Leafa, your first official task on the assault team will be to inform the citizens that we have cleared floor two. However, please wait a few days so we can scout the place, wouldn't want people to rush in their and get themselves killed due to an unknown threat."

"Okay, will do ma'am," Leafa saluted, causing Blaze to chuckle. "Blaze will be fine, Leafa. Oh, and send the guild leaders to my inn tomorrow, I want them to send their guilds with mine during the scouting mission."

"Yes Blaze!"

Waking up, Blaze once again combed her hair and went out, Sinon by her side. "You've done good with your basic Rapair, but we need to buy you a better one," Blaze informed her, to which Sinon nodded. "I just hope I have enough money," she fretted.

Blaze patted her on the back. "I'm going half with you, so you don't need to worry." She promised.

Blaze basically had an agreement among her guild, which was that if they needed a new weapon, Blaze would go half on it in return they reimburse her with half the col from drops. It wasn't in so much that Blaze wanted reimbursement rather that Blaze wanted her members to be able to have the weapons they needed without them running out of col. She could then use the reimbursed col on helping the next guild member buy their weapon, and thus each member was no more than about a few days away from having the weapon they needed to survive.

They picked out her new weapon, which was a standard rapier, but had twice the stats of her starter rapier. "We'll need to get it enhanced before the boss battle but it'll do for now," Blaze remarked as they went to join the other members. For security sake, Even though Diaval was her second in command, Sinon was the one Blaze had by her side as a body guard when she went out to meet with other guild members.

Arriving in the square, she breathed a sigh of relief as the about ten people showed up. "Everyone ready for their scouting mission," she asked, and they nodded. "Good, once we are done scouting we'll let everyone know that the way to the second town is open."

"We're not going to take advantage of this scouting opportunity, are we?" A girl asked. Before Blaze could respond, another girl with silver-blond hair shook her head. "No, we can engage enemy mobs as we run into them, but we are not to fight against mob spots or anything. Blaze wants to let you guys and the other players have a chance at this floor while we focus on the dungeon," she then paused and looked at Blaze, who nodded.

"Pale Rider is correct," Blaze remarked. "We're just making sure there are no dangers on the second floor."

"Ok, okay then, I feel better now. By the way, we where wondering, since we are Blacksmiths, could we join as the main blacksmiths for the assault lines rather than an axillary or dedication guild?"

Blaze smiled. "Certainly, but I'd like to work you in a few raids and such to help keep your levels high," she allowed.

The scouting mission went well, and once they returned, Blaze and the other guilds held a meeting between all guild members and info brokers. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news, we've beaten the boss on the first floor and now floor two is open to the public."

Cheering erupted for a while, before a guy with spiky hair interrupted. "And I bet you took everything from floor two already, didn't you?" he accused.

 _Kabou,_ Blaze thought to herself, before nodding to Pale Rider, her expert strategist. "No Kabou, we did scout the second floor yes. But we are leaving the mobs to the other guilds and solo players. Those who took part in the front lines are already at a high enough level to take on the labyrinth, so we'll be focusing on that." she explained.

He huffed. "Doubt it, but me and my guild will be," he then blinks and sat down. _Yeah, I'd live to know just what you and your guild will be doing,_ Blaze thought, before a voice calmed her down.

"Don't mind him Blaze. Everyone here is appreciative of what you and the front lines are trying to do," a guild leader told her. "By the way, my name is Oberon, leader of the Zeus armada. We're too weak to join the front lines, but you guys and girls inspire us."

Blaze smiled at him before bowing slightly. "Thanks Oberon, we appreciate your kind words." she politely thanked him before he sat down. "Now, here are the dangers we faced on floor two," she continued before listing their results for the scouting mission. "But please remember there are things we may have missed, so keep your eyes open. And let us know if you find anything dangerous so we can spread the word."

 _So far, we are really doing this. I...I can't hardly believe we are doing this, but we are going to beat the game._ However, If Blaze had known what would aspire during their stay on the second floor, she might have felt less optimistic.

 **Alright, There are a few quick things I'd like to say here.**

 **A lot of thing are hinted, and if it's hinted, it's most likely important later on. Such things are the touble Blaze is going to run into on the second floor, and the Konno siblings not having Aids. However, the virus will later on affect the back story of the Konno siblings, even though in this AU they themselves don't have the disease.**

 **Second, Kirito joining the Blood oath. Partially this is due to safety, partially due to respect for Blaze, and partially because thanks to openly admitting betas like Blaze and Leopon helping out the other players a lot, there isn't a lot of room to accuse them of not helping the other players. Doesn't mean it's not there, but it's a lot less than in the anime.**

 **Third, some of the OC's are modified OC's or straight up copied OC's from my other stories. Some of them are characters from the anime, and some may even eventually come from a few other anime. Heck, the Tanker's fandom consisted of Girls Und Panzer Cosplayers.**

 **Finally, This storie's Oberon isn't Nyboyukki.**


	6. Chapter 6

**To my guest reviewer: I'm a guy in real life with no desire to become a girl. However, I have at times wondered what my life, likes, and personality would differ had I been born a girl, and that curiosity has inspired a lot of traits found in Hanoashi. But no, I wouldn't want to become a girl in real life, as I'm happy being a guy.**

For Blaze, there wasn't much need to dress up in game, except when she was turning in for the night. However, she decided to start her day today by doing some shopping for armor, partially because she wanted to see if they had anything better than what she had and partially because wearing the same dang thing in her eyes got boring, quickly.

 _Hm... oh...um... okay,_ she decided, picking out a new shirt and skirt combination. The shirt itself was sleeveless and had a kinda mini-skirt with it. Kinda in the since that it was longer than a mini-skirt but shorter than a full-sized skirt, but never the less Blaze felt like it would do her some good. Taking a leather chest piece and shin guards, she finished her new armor and made her way back to the inn.

"Can't wait to see what you picked out," Sinon remarked as they went into the inn's bathrooms. This in was one of the richer inns, though it was a bit strange, with it's outhouse bathrooms and public bath. Stepping inside one of the stalls, Blaze quickly changed into her new armor, smiling a bit as she stepped out. "This feels nice," she whispered to herself as a breeze tinged her arms slightly. Smiling at Sinon, who had on a green tee-shirt and pants with a leather Breastplate, they rushed over to the Inn and waited for Leopon's decision.

"I wish SAO had been what it was advertised as," Sinon whined. "I mean... this is fun and all but I... I want to go home now," she added in a whisper.

"I feel the same way," Blaze whispered, before patting her friend gently on the head. "But that's why we take on the floor labyrinths and bosses, so that we and everyone else can go home faster."

Sinon was about to say something when they got a message from Leopon. "Thanks Blaze, I needed that," she smiled before reading the message. "Looks like we're going on a dungeon raid," she added.

Blaze smiled gently. "Welp, hopefully we can beat this boss before the week ends," she mentioned.

"Week's end? Isn't that a bit fast? Sinon asked.

"We are on a time limit. Do you remember when everyone's avatars suddenly froze up?"

Nodding, her bodyguard sighed. "I'm guessing our bodies where being moved to hospitals," she finished. Gazing evenly at the redhead, she tipped her head questionably. "But how did you know that is what happened?"

Blaze shrugged. "It just seemed like the most logical situation. However, our bodies are being kept alive right now, but we don't have forever." Blaze now realized this may have been a mistake as her friend looked scared out of her skin. "The good news is we have a few years to beat the game, but we can't be wasting time, just long enough to rest up, have an occasional relaxing day and clean up the boss."

"Think we can do it?"

"If I didn't, I'd have suggested making the most of life now. Truth is, I still suggest that but we also have to keep focus if we are going to make it in time."

They arrived at the meeting place, Blaze embracing Leopon, Heathcliff and Jaden. "Looks like our squad is all here," she began. "Okay, Since this is your operation Leopon, you should start."

The blond nodded, and began her briefing. "Alright, our goal for today is to find and locate the boss room. If we can do this, then we can make steady progress on our goal of ending this death game once and for all."

Cheers erupted from the room and Blaze couldn't help but smile softy at their enthusiasm. "Let' do this," she whispered to herself, before following them out into the fields.

"Looks like there are a lot more slimes and wolves in this dungeon," Jaden analyzed.

"Seems that way, I just hope the boss isn't a giant slime," Blaze fretted, clutching her arm subconsciously. "Wait, did someone just g... oh wait, that was me... never mind!" laughter erupted from the guilds at her little freak out, leaving the ginger blushing slightly.

"There is the boss room!" Leopon called out excitedly. Let's leave a corridor crystal and get out of here!" she added, before setting up the system. "Alright, we should head back now," she ordered, and the group made the trek back to the dungeon entrance.

"Wait... something is going on up ahead," blaze whispered, before charging off with her guild and the sleeping knights. "Are you guys okay!" She called to a group of people in trouble.

"If you Beta's or any of your guilds try and help us, we'll kill ya!"

"Yeah! We'll kill you!"

Blaze began to shake in fear. _I... I have to help them... they are about do die... but then..._ A hand was on her shoulder and Leopon shook her head. "Don't risk it," she whispered. As they where walking away, Blaze abruptly turned around.

"If they kill me, then that's one thing. But my friends? You stay back, I'll help them."

"Blaze, what are you doing!" Sinon yelled but to no avail. Blaze had already struck down the enemy mobs, then turned to the sole survivor. "I...I...I"

"You should have done that the moment you saw us in trouble." he cried, before grabbing her. "Teliport!" He cried, before taking her with him.

"Blaze! No!"

Waking up on the dirty cold floor, Blaze rose up slowly, before noticing something cold on her wrist. _Chains?_ She asked herself before gasping. _Wait, he didn't!_ She found the one responsible for her capture and glared at him, before flinching as he slapped her.

"OW!" She cried, but couldn't do anything as small speck of red flowed from a cut. _At least this isn't real blood,_ she thought, before gazing at him. "What...what do you want with me?" she whispered.

He stooped down, and gently petted her cheek, causing her to flinch involuntary. "Well well my pretty, looks like I've finally caught you."

"Caught me?" she gasped.

"That would seem to be the case, yes." he informed her, before rubbing his hand down her neck. _Gosh this is creeping me out!_ She thought, referring to both his words and actions. Her hand curled up the instant his hand made it down to her shirt.

"Do you you remember what you did?" He asked her.

"Look, I'm so sorry about not responding to your guild members in need..." Slap! She began to cry a bit. "I...I'm sorry," she sobbed.

Slap! "Stop crying!"

She shuddered, before resolving herself. _What the heck does he want with me?_ She asked herself.

"Well, you see... about six months ago... you refused to be my girl friend." he told her. "Remember, I was beating up Shino, and you stepped in? I promised to leave her alone if you'd be my girlfriend? Remember that?"

Blaze shuddered. _"_ Oh..., in that case I'm glad I refused." she growled.

Slap. "You may be as fiery as a tiger, but your pride will not last forever. Oh, and your friends didn't get a good look at me either, so good look holding out hope of them finding us," he teased, before exiting the cell, locking the door behind him.

"Blaze slumped over as the chains loosened, and she bent over, crying. _Why... what did I deserve to do this..._ she paused as she noticed a ferret prodding her, something in it's mouth. _What... what is this?_ She thought, raising her hand gently, only for it to grab it and use it's mouth to undue the lock.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" she whispered, before handing her other arm to him and he did the same thing. He then scampered off, looking back at her briefly before heading into the dark.

 _He must only be able to carry one key at a time_ she reasoned as he came back, and handed her a larger key. "Thank you," she whispered again, before unlocking her cell door and making her way out. She located a chest and opened it, finding her anneal blade and basic buckler in it. "Perfect," she mummered before she noticed the Ferret had followed her. "Wait... you want to come with me?" she guessed.

The ferret went wild with excitement and a menu popped up. "Congratulations, you have tamed a Cave Ferret. What name would you like to give it?

Blaze thought for a moment before smiling. "Snowpyro," she typed in, before hitting the confirmed button. "Come along Snowpyro, we need to find that guy," she told him.

Purring, he climbed on her shoulder. "Oh okay, but I'd prefer you to get off once we see him, don't want you getting slashed or anything," she allowed, and he nodded.

Sneaking around with a ferret on your shoulder was an interesting experience by anyone's standard, but it was none the less an interesting and the teenager was able to momentarily forget her recent ordeal. However, it all came flooding back when she found her target.

 _He must be a total noob to be this red early on. I wonder if he purposely forwent reading the guidebook due to it being made by the beta testers?_ She wondered, before gazing at her companion. "Okay, listen, you stay here, back me up if it goes south, but stay here, okay?" she whispered and at once Snowpyro jumped of and nuzzled her hand gently before hiding in the shadows.

Getting her shield in fount of her, she stood up loudly and stepped out of the shadows before unsheathing her Anneal blade rather loudly.

"What the heck!" He turned around, before doing a double take. "Who...how?" he stammered.

"So... you are the one behind this, aren't you. I'm guessing there was a bit more to this than meet the eye?" She accused before searching him with her shield. He fell back, dropping his sword.

"Wait, stop, please have mercy on me!" He wailed, but blaze was in no mood for mercy. She grabbed his neck, and started dragging him to the corner. "Hey, Snowpyro, do you know any status aliment moves? She asked. He nodded and suddenly bit the guy, sending him into a sleep.

"So he knows Sleep bite, that will come in handy," she mused as he woke up. "Where am I?" he asked, before his eyes widened. "No... I'm sorry Blaze... I'll make it up to you I swear!"

Blaze gazed coldly at him for a while, silently enjoying her revenge. "Well, it's no wonder those who violate innocent people are believed to have a special place in hell," she replied coldly, venom spewing out of her voice.

"Bl...Blaze wouldn't commit cold hearted murder... would you?" he begged. However, Blaze was not fooled.

"I have a few questions for you," she relented, pulling out a recording crystal. "I want this to be played so that no other guys get any funny ideas," she added ominously.

"Okay... so what do you want to know?"

"First off, do you really like me?"

"Um... yes,,, at least I did?"

"Then why did you do that to my friend. And no names!"

"S" Slap!

"I mean... I just wanted to see her scared," he cried. "I heard about what she did and I thought it'd be hilarious,"

Slap!

"I'm sorry Blaze, I realized what I did was wrong, but I'll..

Slap.

"Will you stop slapping me?" he begged.

"Well, you touched me inappropriately and keep slapping me, so no," The red head glared at him, her green eyes seeming to pierce his skin.

"Secondly, did you really blame the beta testers?" She asked quietly.

He shook his head.

Slap! "Words please!" Blaze shouted.

"No... I didn't I swear! I was actually the one who put it in Kabou's head. I wanted to Isolate you, make you my own and then I realized the anti-criminal code and I knew I'd have to take you in a dungeon and live on what I could find in the forest, but if it would have made you mine,"

Slap! "You know, I'm a reasonable woman." Blaze began. "If you wanted to date me, you should have just left my friend alone, at least with the whole teasing thing. I wouldn't have minded you helping her or even being her friend, but you preyed on her, just like you preyed on me." She then paused to let that sink in. "You ruined your chance to be with me when you did that."

"I... I didn't even know you existed until..." Slap!

"So you lusted at me!" Blaze shouted! She glanced at her recording crystal before sending out another one. She had tons of the things. Or... at least about twenty of them.

"I... um Yeah. But I'm so sorry!"

At this point Blaze didn't know what to do for a brief moment. "And when you hit me?" she asked.

"Lowest point of my life."

Slap!

"No it isn't! This is your lowest point, when you put me in here!" She shouted. "You chained me up in this... this Jail cell! Then you proceeded to basically violate me! What I'd like to know is... why?"

He then sighed. "I... I let my emotions get the best of me, And I'm sorry," he looked away.

The recording crystal ran out of power and blaze didn't send out another one this time. She kept down to his level and placed her hand gently on his cheek. "I'm sorry too." she whispered.

"What?"

" I had really wished we could have put our differences behind us, all of us. But now... it's too late." she then lowered her head, before drawing her sword and pointing at him.

"Wait wait wait Blaze, you don't understand!" He began, before bowing his head gently. "Yeah... you do understand, don't you. Perhaps it's better this way." he then looked up at her expectantly.

Blaze sighed and put her sword away before kneeling back down. "Listen... I don't want to kill you, alright? Even though the pain you just caused me... but I can't just free you. If you promise me you won't come after me and my friends when we clear the game... I'll have my guild escort you to the jail, alright?"

He took a deep breath of relief. "Thank you Blaze, I won't come after you, I swear." he then looked down.

Messaging her friends, she waited for them to find them. "You know, if you really had wanted to be my friend, all you had to do was apologize to Shino. But... that's no longer possible."

He nodded. "I know that now Blaze."

Her friends arrived soon, and Kieta and Diavil unhinged him and made sure to keep a good grip on his arm. "If he tried to get away, bite him," she whispered to Snowpyro, who nodded before getting on her shoulder. Dyne fell in step beside her. "Are you okay Blaze?" he asked her quietly.

She shook her head. "Not really. Not only did he hurt me but he also got a lot of the anti-beta's killed today," she then smiled at him "I'll recover though."

He gazed softly at her as she continued. "Alright," he replied softly.

Blaze gulped down her fear as they walked the prisoner down the row of cells. _This is taking me back to a place I wish not to go,_ she thought to herself, clutching Dyne as someone lashed out at her.

"You okay Blaze?" Leopon asked, and Blaze shook her head. "I can't do this Leopon," she cried softly before leaning into Dyne.

Leopon nodded before turning to Dyne. "Go with her." she ordered. Nodding, be guided his friend and leader out of the prison. "You alright?" he asked softly, and she burst into tears while leaning into his shoulders.

"No... I... I know what jail is like," she whispered, before sighing. "Have you heard of a girl appearing out of thin air, completely undressed in Toyko?" she began to explain.

He nodded. "But I thought that was just rumor," he began, before his eyes widened. "Wait, they didn't?" He gasped.

She nodded. "Yeah, I woke up in jail. But... it's thanks to the warden I have the live I had back in the real world. My guardian loves me very much and is very kind to me... but I still sometimes have nightmares about my time in jail."

He hugged her a bit more tightly but not in a way that would hurt her. "I'm... I"m sorry. If you need anything let me know. And it may be best to keep this between us."

Blaze closed her eyes. "Thanks Dyne," she sighed, and the two broke off. Leopon came out, her eyes glittering with worry. "Are you alright Blaze?"

Blaze began to nod but shook her head. "I'm... still shook up about all this," she admitted. "Sinon, can you lead the guild during the boss raid, I'm not too sure I'm up for it."

Sinon nodded. "Okay, but you need to chose someone to stay with you, I don't think you should be alone." she admitted.

Blaze gazed around, her eyes landing on Dyne. "I know it's a lot to ask... but,"

He nodded. "No, it's alright, I don't mind." he agreed. He walked her over to the inn, and saw her to her room before Silica took over. "Blaze?"

Blaze smiled at her gently. "Don't worry Silica, I'll recover, but it'll take some time, alright?"

"Blaze," she whispered.

As Blaze laid down for the night, she shuddered as she remembered him putting his hands on her. _Will... can I really recover from this?_ She asked, feeling rather depressed. _If it wasn't for Snowpyro, it'd still be there. Who knew what he'd have done to me then._

 _But... but why did I decide to let him live?_ She asked herself, sitting up and curling up in a ball. _Should I have killed him?_ She shook her head. _No, I may have been put in jail until a trial could be held._ Over 90 guilds had met and agreed on how prison and player arrest should be held. If you where guilty of a crime and caught, you where sent to jail. If you where found guilty via trial period. They lock you up. If you are found innocent or had a good reason, they let you go.

Blaze was glad she didn't kill him. Sure, she wouldn't have been caught, but she doubted she could keep her deed to herself. She wasn't good at that kind of thing. And she'd feel compel to go through the legal system, as she was in favor of it, albeit barely. However she believed Red players should be brought in if they turn themselves in or are caught rather than just killed, especially since there was a chance that they might be at least somewhat innocent.

Lying back down and curling up, she found herself asleep with tears in her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**A:N I can scarcely believe this story has had over 500 views this quick, and plenty of follows and likes. I'm just glad people are enjoying it, anyways, here is chapter 7. I decided that it was time to move the... romance plot along, so it's a fluff chapter.**

 _Ah, the cool autumn breeze feels nice,_ Blaze thought to herself, gazing at the sun. Two weeks had passed since her ordeal, and she was slowly recovering. Not to say she had healed from the mental scaring just yet, and if she was honest with herself she'd admit sometimes she didn't think she would. She closed her eyes briefly, soaking up the soothing cold as a gentle breeze flowed around her arms, gently massaging them in a soothing fashion.

They where at floor five now, and Blaze could not have been happier about the progress the front lines where making. Leopon had been selected to lead the assault team, much to Blaze's delight, though Leopon had turned right around and elected Blaze as her second in command, which kinda irked the young woman, though she'd never publicly admit it. _I was rather hoping someone else would have taken over for me, but oh well, duty calls I guess._

Blaze absolutely hated being in charge, even though she was good at it. Disputed that, she always feared she would mess up, make the wrong decision, and whenever she did she'd brood over that choice for ages.

Fortunately that didn't cross her mind as she smiled and opened her eyes to see Kirito approaching. "Hey Kirito," she greeted.

"Hi Blaze... mind if I join you?" he asked.

"Of course, go on ahead," she smiled and he sat down a respectful yet not uncomfortable distance. "So how was the dungeon raid?"

"It was good, we managed to find the boss room, no casualties," he reported, mentioning some other details in the mix, like who announced they got a rare drop or killed a mini-boss.

"That's what I like to hear," she beamed. "Well, guess I'll have to find something to do tomorrow then." she added sheepishly.

Kirito shook his head. "No Blaze, you've been working hard these past few days, no one would blame you if you took an extra day off." he commented.

Shacking her head, Blaze sat up and gazed at him. "Maybe your right, but there isn't much to do really. I can work on my cooking skill, but I do that almost every Wednesday preparing jerky for the assault team, and then there is reading, which was fine at first, but now," she then sighed. "I'll read through all the books I'm interested in by mid-game at this rate."

Kirito smiled gently at her. "You are such a speed reader, Blaze." He then shook his head gently. "I swear, you read an adult novel at about the same pace someone watched a normal movie, if not faster."

"Warriors, into the wild, read it in 45 minuets, passed a quiz on it in under four," she admitted.

He once again shook his head. "Seriously Blaze, don't you think you should slow down a bit?" he asked.

"If I ever slow down when reading a book, it means I've lost interest." She then laid back down, placing her arms under her head and smiled. "I wonder how long it'd take me to read all the warriors books non-stop?"

"There's like a hundred of them," Kirito warned.

"I've read about 20 of them, so I'm making good progress," she countered. "Well, I guess SAO interrupted that race, oh well,"

"Yeah, it interrupted my sister's shot at the middle school finals," he breathed.

"Shughua?" she asked.

He stood up. "Wait, do you know her?"

Blaze nodded. "We where in the same class together."

He then sat down. "Where you two friends?"

She shook her head. "We... didn't really associate much, even though we where friendly with each other," she admitted.

"Oh, I understand," Kirito commented, before another girl walked up. "What are you two doing?" she asked sharptly.

"Oh hey, it's just you," Kirito sighed before closing his eyes.

"I can't believe you, just because we got back dosen't mean you can just sleep." she then turned to Blaze. "And you, have you done nothing today?" she asked.

Blaze rolled her eyes. "It's my day off," she replied simply.

"Day...Day off! Are you kidding me?" Asuna screeched. "We can't be taking days off, we have to beat this game. Don;t you get it? Every day here is a day we lose in the real world."

"Yeah, but we are not in the real world, we're stuck here, living in incrad." Kirito pointed out.

Blaze sighed. "And you need to take a day off every now and then. Otherwise, you'll get burned out."

"Psh, whatever." Asuna turned away for a moment.

"You'll understand if you lay down," Blaze invited.

Asuna looked like she was about to disagree before she yawned. "Whatever," she muttered, but lay down, glaring at them. Blaze suppressed a chuckled before closing her eyes and went back to enjoying the wind.

Blinking, her eyes open, the first thing she noticed was Dyne sitting about three meters away from her. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked groggily, and he nodded. Sighing, Blaze smiled at him. "Thanks for watching over me," she replied sheepishly.

"No problem Blaze."

She then saw Kirito was also watching Asuna as she slept. "You like whatcha see, Kirito?" she asked.

"Bl...Blaze, it isn't like that I swear!" he defended, raising his hands in a defensive gesture.

Blaze chuckled to herself. "Sure it isn't. Still, it's nice that someone's trying to look out for her. She's a complete workaholic."

Kirito shrugged. "I can't argue with you there," he commiserated.

"You both have been asleep all evening," Dyne chimed in, before turning to Blaze. Maybe you ought take a second day off.

Blaze gazed at him evenly before shrugging. "I might have something in mind." she replied sheepishly, before glancing at Asuna as she sneezed and proceeded to get up,

"Oh, Good morning Asuna," Kirito waved politely.

 _Morning, it's 6:30 in the afternoon!_ Blaze thought, before jumping back as a very spooked Asuna drew her sword.

"Tell me what you did and you may yet live," She shouted anger, sword drawn.

"He just stood here making sure no one no one did a sleep PK on you Asuna," Blaze reassured her. Dyne came here to keep me company because Shino got worried." she then glanced at Dyne who nodded.

Asuna sighed and sheathed her rapier. "Alright, one meal." she mummered. "One meal, I'll treat you three to anything you want, and then we'll call it even," she clarified.

As they walked to the diner, Kirito wondered up to Blaze. " Why did you not tell Asuna that Dyne was watching over you as you sleep."

Blaze shook her head. "I didn't want a misunderstanding. See, Dyne was doing me a big favor by keeping me safe, but given what happened to me two weeks ago, she might have see his actions as something entirely different.

"Oh, I see what you mean," He whispered. "Good thinking."

Blaze ended up ordering a small stake with a salad, while Kirito Asuna and Dyne order their own respective meals. "So um... thanks for watching over me back there. Things have gotten dangerous with all the sleep Pks as of late."

"No problem Asuna, but you are right." She then sighed. "I can't believe they found a way around the safe zones so fast."

"Yeah." Eventually the conversation drifted off into marriage at some point. "I think marriage is romantic, yet pragmatic," Asuna dreamed.

"So, how," Kitiro began only to get a nudge from Dyne. "Pragmatic means practical, Kirito," Blaze informed him. Catching on, he quickly defended himself. "I know what pragmatic mean, Blaze." He then nodded to Asuna. "So how is marriage practical?"

That earned him a kick from both Asuna and Blaze. "Okay okay, seesh, I'm sorry," he apologized hurriedly. Blaze then decided that Dyne was the guy she should focus on here. "So, what do you think of marriage, Dyne?" she asked.

He smiled. "Well, if there is a girl who I liked and liked me back, it'd be somewhat natural for us to get married in game. But... if we wanted to remain together in the real world, then age would be an issue," he replied with a smile.

 _That... actually makes a lot of sense._ "Yeah, the idea of two people loving each other would be nice," she agreed, before noticing Asuna looking at her worriedly.

"You okay Blaze?" she asked quietly.

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me." She only then realized what she meant. "Really, you shouldn't tiptoe around the issue with me, it's not really helping." she added.

"I'm sorry, we are just worried about you Blaze," Asuna apologized gently.

"I know, and I greatly appreciate that, but only time will heal these wounds." She then smiled. "Your friendship helps me more than I can say."

Asuna smiled. "Blaze, I... Thank you,"

"No problem."

"Anyways, we should eat our food before it gets cold," Dyne replied. Blaze nodded and began to eat along with the rest of them. However, by the end if the meal it had turned from a thank you meal to a full blown date. Or more precisely, a double date.

"I really enjoyed myself today," Blaze told Dyne as they walked back to the Inn.

"So did I blaze." He replied, though Blaze detected something in his tone, he was a bit frightened.

Turning to him, she let out a small sigh. "Tell me Dyne, do you... like me," She asked gently.

He gazed at her and sighed. "Nothing gets past you Blaze," he mumered. "Yes, I've had a crush on you since we did that scouting mission on floor 2, but... with what happened in the dungeon on floor two and the fact that I don't even know if I'm too old for you, I... I was afraid to admit it. Thar, and I... I don't want to hurt you..." He paused as she hugged him gently.

"You don't need to worry about hurting me... because I like you too," she whispered. "Usually I don't mention my age, but I'm 14, turning 15 in nine months."

"Really, then you are only four months older than me... oh my gosh I am so sorry!" He apologized as soon as he realized how offensive that may have sounded.

However his eyes widened as Blaze began cracking up. "There's no need to apologize for that," she reassured him. "But... can we spend the day together tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Another day of relaxation would do us some good. Alright, let's do that." he smiled. "And... I'm really sorry about what I said about you being,"

Blaze shook her head. "Don't worry, I wasn't offended. Besides, that tells me your birthday is in September, right?"

He nodded. "Ninth."

"Fifteenth of January," Blaze admitted. "Welp, we're here." she smiled. "I'm looking forward to our day together," she smiled.

"Yeah, me too," Dyne smiled back, before heading to his room. Blaze likewise headed to her own room and laid down, smiling to herself.

"You look quite happy Blaze," Silica observed. Smiling, the ginger girl turned her head to her. "Well, me and Dyne are spending the day together tomorrow."

Silica smiled back at her. "You to like each other?"

She nodded.

"Good, I was wondering when you'd find someone you liked," Silica purred.

"You're not worried?"

Glancing at her, Silica shook her head. "About this, no. Yes, I do worry about you but you are a strong individual Blaze, and with time, you'll recover."

Blinking greatfully, Blaze smiled gently. "Thank you Silica. Your right, I'll recover with time." Soon, the girl found herself asleep.

Waking up, the girl quickly changed out of her sleeping clothes and into her usual attar, before heading downstairs and meeting up with Dyne.

"Good morning Dyne," she greeted shyly. _Wait, why am I so shy all of a sudden?_ She asked herself.

"Morning Blaze," he replied back.

"So... what are we going to do today?" She asked.

"I was kinda thinking of letting you decide." He admitted.

 _Hm... um... okay, wait, there isn't much dating options in SAO, particularly this early on! Crap. Wait... there is a nice section of the floor that's considered a safe zone, we could hang out there._ "I was thinking bout a nice autumn walk through Tangurg forest," she decided.

"Right, well then let's be on our way. By the way, did ja bring it?" he asked.

"Yep, enough duplex jerky, enough for four meals." Her duplex jerky was a more tastier version of the jerky she made for the assault team, and though later on it was pretty cheep to make, right now it was too expensive to make for the whole assault team. Not to mention she couldn't make enough jerky on her on. Even though she was the best mass production jerky cook in the game, she only made about three percent of the available jerky for the assault forces.

To top it off, Blaze wasn't even a good cook outside of jerky making, but she didn't mind it. The whole idea of her taking cooking was to ensure her team would always have food available from the various meat they got as loot, not to become the SAO version of a famous cook. _Asuna can take that crown for all I care,_ she had thought once Asuna began to outrank her in cooking.

The walk over to the park was nice, and Blaze found herself becoming more comfortable with Dyne as time went on. So comfortable in fact that she smiled deviously and tapped him on the back. "Tag, your it!" She yelled, before running off.

"Oh it is so on blaze!" he cried happily, heavily emphasizing the so in his statement. He then ran after her, discovering that, although Blaze was faster than him, she was giving him a chance at catching her, albeit it seem she was definitely making him work for that chance.

Meanwhile, unannounced to the two kids playing tag, and to the other group, two group of people where spying on the new couple, though with totally different intentions.

"Look at them, playing tag like they are in some pre-school," a adult girl snorted softly, before turning her attention to her companion. "Pathetic she's our second in command, isn't it Grinder?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it really is," he agreed, before tipping his head. "You want me and the others to strike her down?"

She shook her head. "No, as much as I want her position, I don't want to kill her." she then rose gently as the two went out of her sight. "Let's go, there's nothing we can do in a safe zone," she whispered, and as they left, she leaned closer to him. "Let's pretense we went on an early morning date, so that it doesn't seem like we where spying," she whispered, and the two leaned together. _Blaze, soon I will be second in command, while you will be..._ she paused as she didn't really know how she wanted to handle this girl, all she knows is that she didn't want the teen killed.

"Wow, Silica was spot on about them liking each other," a black haired girl with amber eyes whispered to her blond haired friend.

"So, we don't have to worry, then?" He asked gently.

"No, I guess not. Still, it makes me wonder, how long they've had feelings for the other?"

"Not sure. But all I know is if they like each other, and he treats her right, then it's enough for me," He then gazed at his friend. "We _should_ get out of here before we are spotted," he whispered.

However, she shook her head. "No, I feel like sitting under an oak and cuddling," she replied sheepishly while blushing.

"Sure, that sounds nice actually."

Blaze and Dyne finally decided to call their game of tag at quits around new, and they sat down to eat their jerky. "This is the best," he beamed, after taking a bite out of his.

"Thanks, but Asuna helped me discover the spices, so a lot of the gratitude should go to her as well."

"I'll need to thank her as well then," he stated. The jerky was quickly ate, even though they brought plenty to keep then full, they didn't want to over-gorge themselves on the stuff. They quickly packed up and Dyne turned to Blaze. "So, what now? More tag?"

Blaze shook her head. "No, I have another idea," she replied. _Shame it isn't summer, but oh well,_ she thought to herself devilishly. _Oh what I wouldn't give to see his reaction to my suggestion of us going for a swim!_ She then mentally frown. _Then again, I might not like my reaction to his reaction of seeing me in a bathing suit. Geez, I really could use a good swim right about now._ "We need to find a good tree," she added.

"A tree?" He asked curiously. "Why a tree?"

"You'll see," she smiled, before heading off, with him following her. After a while, they found a large enough tree to suit Blaze's desire. "Let's sit down together," she mummered, and with they they sat in the cranny of the large oak.

"So, what'd you want to do?" he asked her gently.

"Give me your right hand," she whispered.

He did as she requested, surprised when she held it with her left. "So you wanted to hold my hand? Why all the secrecy?"

"I wanted to surprise you, dud!" she then teased before looking down. "I'm sorry, I should have asked first..."

He interrupted her. "No, it's okay, I kinda like this actually stuff actually," he admitted.

"You... you do?" she blushed, and squeezed a bit harder, though not by much and not enough to hurt. "Well, I like it too," she mummered sheepishly.

Dyne sat there, contemplating his situation. The girl he liked, no loved, was holding his hand the first time. It didn't help that both their armor, for all intents and purposes, was sleeveless, and that Blaze had started subconsciously wrapping her arm around his. Feeling her flesh against his, was unique, but not all that uncomfortable and he just hope she was really okay with it.

Before long she had started unwrapping her arm, only to lean on his shoulder. Normally Dyne didn't like it when people did this, and several thoughts coursed through his mind. _Should I tell her I don't like it when people lean on me? Should I bear it?_ However, as she rested, a portion of her ginger hair landing on his chest, he found that it wasn't as bad as it had once seemed. _In fact, it's rather enjoyable,_ he mused. _Strange._

Sinon had woken from her nap and stretched before looking at Criser. "How long was I out this time?"

"Two hours. Rest well?"

"Very much, thank you." She then rose up. "Let's check up on the new couple, shall we?" she asked.

He agreed and they didn't take long to see Dyne and Blaze cuddling. "Awe, they are soooo cute!," Sinon cooed in a whisper.

"Your right, they really are. But we're cuter," he whispered back, earning a playful hit from his girlfriend. "You can't say things like that!" she growled, before laughing gently. "But if anyone deserved to be happy, it's Blaze, especially after all the things she's been through and help us with."

"You know she once said the same thing about you being with me," Criser admitted.

"She...she did?" She stammered while blushing. "Blaze... you are just too sweet for your on good sometimes," she whispered.

"I can't believe you two are spying on them," A hurried whisper stooped them out of their private thoughts a few moments later. "Silica, Kieta?" Sinon whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Not spying on my friends," Silica growled, before a quick tap on her shoulder from Kieta calmed her down. "Davail says we're having a boss meeting at 5 PM tonight, so we'd better get ready."

"And he got wind of Blaze's date with Dyne and said not to disturb them. But since you to have nothing better to do, might as well come along." she added seriously.

"Okay okay geez, no need to bite our ears off." Criser then had a worried look on his face. "You won't tell Blaze or Dyne that we saw them, right?"

Silica thought about refusing, but then a thought occurred to her. "Only if you leed me and Kieta take a peak,"

Chucking, Sinon moved out of the way. "Just wait, you'll see why we are so enthralled." Silica snorted, before peaking and her eyes softened. "No freaking way, those two are so into each other," she whispered.

That quick peak turned into a fifteen minute peak before blaze sneezed lightly, causing Dyne to smile gently. "That was great!" she exclaimed, before rising up and stretching, Dyne following suit. "So, should we head back or keep going?"

"As much as I'd like to keep going, we should get back to the boss meeting. Not too sure if Leopon would want me missing out on another boss raid no matter how tough I had it a few weeks ago. Plus I feel like kicking Kayaba's little nerdy ass."

"You really are something, aren't you Blaze?" He teased affectionately.

She then hugged him gently. "So are you, my warrior." He returned the hug and they stood there for about two minutes before breaking off. "Welp, let's go."


	8. Chapter 8

Several gasps and congratulations where heard around Blaze, and it took her a moment to realize why. She and Dyne had forgotten that they where holding hands when they entered the amphitheater, and they both blushed for a moment before quietly taking their seats. It was then Blaze also realized that she was suppose to be on stage rather than in the stands and she blushed again, before whispering a soft departure to Dyne and taking her rightful place.

Leopon smirked at her gently before speaking. "Glad to see you back to your normal self," she replied simply before beginning the meeting. "Alight, as you know, we've found the boss room, and our scouts has stated that..."

Blaze frowned as she found it hard to considerate on the meeting, but she manage to take in the important information. After the meeting, Leopon came up to her. "Getting on with young Dyne heh?" Blushing, Blaze nodded gently. "We just started going out today, but yeah, I really like him."

"Don't worry, it'll get easier, besides, it's great you've found somebody," Leopon reassured her.

"Thanks Leopon," Blaze smiled, before letting out a sigh.

"What's wrong Blaze?"

Blaze gazed into Leopon's eyes. "I'm not sure... but I have this gut feeling that something bad is going to happen during this boss raid."

Leopon's eyes widened. Whenever Blaze had a gut feeling, she was usually right. Of course, Leopon herself had been having a gut feeling, but she couldn't bring herself to reveal that to Blaze. "Any idea what it could be?" She asked slowly.

Blaze shook her head. "No, though that might be for the better, if it's something we cannot prevent. Still, we'd best keep our eye out for danger."

Agreeing, the assault team leader headed off to prepare her guild while Blaze went her own way. This was a battle they couldn't afford to put off or lose, especially over an unsubstantiated gut feeling. Meeting Sinon at the guild door, she paused. "Are all preparations complete?"

Sinon gave her a nod. "Yes commander, we are all set for tomorrow," she reported.

Blaze smiled at her friend. "Then let us rest and tomorrow, we will head out and defeat this boss."

Rising up, The events passes quickly for Blaze. She and Dyne had a quick discussion before departing, but the group was silent with the exception of Davial going over the information on the boss.

"Another hog monster. Geeze, I wonder if Kayaba was a Razerback fan?" Blaze muttered, to everyone's mirth.

Dyne mentally groaned at the joke, though he did find it kinda funny. _Of course this is the kinda joke Blaze would come up with,_ he thought.

"Be that as it may, we still need to be focused," Rosalia muttered, glancing at blaze. "Though seriously, you think Kayaba ever went to America?"

"Who knows," Grimlock shrugged.

"Okay, let's win this and come back alive," Leopon charged before the assault team rushed into the bosses room. Blaze dodged a swing from the Boss's spear, managing to jump on it and unleash a V-strike on the head of the boss. She managed to get down just as the boss recovered, and slashed at his spine as she went down.

Recovering from the controlled landing, Blaze turned roundabout, and let out a horizontal strike on the bosses calf, before side-stepping out of a back-kick, thrusting her forward quickly near the boar's toe.

Many many sword skills where being unleashed at the boss, and it seemed like the battle would be over soon. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.

"Nooooo! Zekken!" Blaze turned around just in time to see Suine block a spear attack from the boss aimed at the unsuspecting Sleeping Knight's guild leader.

"Suine, No!" Zekken cried as her friend burst into a million shards. Blaze rushed in and blocked a second strike with her shield. "Jaden, Jun, get Zekken and the other Sleeping Knights out of here." Blaze knew that they where in no condition to continue fighting after such a loss, and it was imperative they get out.

"But I want to stay and fight," Zekken whispered softly, before trembling.

"You are in no condition to fight right now Zekken. But I promise you you'll have your chance for revenge during the next raid," Blaze explained, before rushing in, only glancing back briefly to check and see that her orders had been followed, which to her great relief, they where.

Sinon hit the enemy with her spear while Criser slammed the bi-pedal bull's foot with his hammer. Yolko and Grimlock kept attacking and retreating, as if they where using a Blitz-kreg like tactic. Grezelda and Kinze would strike at the boss shortly after their retreat.

Blaze let out a sigh and charged in, managing to use the obi-shield sword skill to great effect. The boss crouched down as the last move, a final sword jab, brought the enemy into the red. He dropped his spear and pulled out a Talwar, before swinging it in a rather erotic manner, narrowly missing Blaze's head. Blaze rose up, slightly shaking but determined to fet the boss. She charged at the bosses foot, sliching a large cut across his left leg. She could just barely hear Leopon's call to charge.

"We have to finish it, now! Leopon called, before she, Heathcliff, and Silica charged in, releasing simultaneous sword skills. The boss shattered into a million peaces, and it was revealed that Silica had gotten the LAB, a feminine-looking yellow battle coat with a mini-skirt and breastplate.

However, unlike the other Boss Room Victories, there was no cheering, no jubilant cries of joy. The mood was rather somber. Everyone was down about the first casualty on the assault team during a boss fight. Blaze herself felt a deep flood of sorrow welling up inside her. _Suine was a sweet and caring soldier , always going above and beyond to help her guild and the assault team. Why did it have to be her?_ She thought desperately.

 _But then we would have lost Zekken, and she's shaping up to be one of our number one fighters. Still... why?_ Blaze knew she couldn't answer that truthfully. True, Kayaba was the one who trapped them in SAO, and turned it into a death game, he didn't place Zekken in the line of danger. He didn't control Suine, nor did he guide the boar's spear into the girl.

For the first time, Blaze fully realized the burden of being the Sub-commander of the assault team.

Dyne knew Blaze was hurting, he could see it in her eyes, the way she walked quietly, her normal cheeriness gone. _It's not fair, just as she was starting to be happy again, this happens._ He couldn't blame anyone for the loss of Suine. It wasn't her fault, she took the blow for her best friend, just in the same way he'd take a blow for Blaze if she was in trouble. Likewise, it wasn't Zekken's fault either. True, the girl did have some rushing into danger moments, but in this case she was fighting just like the rest of them. In the thick of battle, she couldn't be completely aware, between keeping up with her guild, the boss movements and the other clearers, it was hard to keep track of everything.

"Blaze... I'm so sorry this had to happen," he mummered quietly.

She gaze at him softly. "It's not your fault. These things... ugh, why do they have to happen?" she sobbed softly before regaining her composure. "Thank you, for being here for me," she whispered.

Dyne took her hand gently. "I'll always be here for you, Blaze."

Blaze gently squeezed his hand in return. "And I'll be here for you too, Dyne," she whispered.

Walking close by was another guild leader. As she was gazing at the lovebirds, she began to see Blaze in a slightly different light. _She's so... caring. She wants to get everyone out alive, but... gah, what am I saying. I deserve to be leader! Not that dim-witted child!_ However, her conscious continued to fight against her ambition. _What if people die because you steal her rank?_

For her, she felt as if she was overlooked. She and her guild had worked hard. She had faithfully followed every order to the letter. She and her guild had given all that they could. But Leopon had overlooked her completely in favor of Blaze. Then again, Blaze had had the second most votes, only 13 less than Leopon.

And she had to admit, Leopon was an excellent guild leader and commander. _Like you could do better?_ A voice in her head asked.

 _Shut it! Shut it! Of course I could do better!_ Still, the redhead wasn't sure.

The moon shone overhead as Blaze found the brown haired girl in a ball, crying softly. "Suine, it's all my fault." She sobbed.

Gently placing her hand on the young girl's shoulder, blaze shook her head. "It's not your fault Zekken," she whispered.

"But... but she died protecting me," the girl sobbed.

Blaze knelt down to her level. "Be that as it may, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything different to change what happened."

Zekken looked at her briefly. "Tell me, why did you join the assault team,"

"Because, we are on limited time here. At most our bodies will remain active for three, maybe close to four years. If that wasn't the case, if our bodies where no longer a factor, then I'd recommend just enjoying what we have. But we both know we cannot do that. So we have to fight."

Zekken frowned momentarily. "Our time is limited. Suine knew that." Zekken then rose up. "So, now do I. Thank you Blaze, I must go prepare my guild for the next raid, once we've grieved properly.

Blaze watched them go, not too sure what else she could to for her friend. However, Zekken paused. "I wonder if me and Jaden will ever see our mom again. She may even have less time then we have." She then quietly continued on.

 _What does she mean by that? Is her mother sick?_ A part of Blaze felt as if she knew the answer, but it was hidden from her, as if she had a memory or knowledge of which was not her own. Ad she hatted that.

As we maneuvered to her guild-house, she passed by Yolko of the Golden apple. "How's she doing?" the purple haired swords-woman asked gently as she began walking by the sub-commander.

"She blaming herself, but I believe she will be okay with time." Blaze sighed. "I've tried telling her that, even though I find that I blame myself for the incident."

"Blaze," She whispered before hugging her gently. "It's not your fault. You and Leopon have led us brilliantly, anyone can see that. What happened happened, it was nobody's fault.

Sighing blaze could barely meet her eyes. "But... I lost a member of the assault team," she began quietly.

"Seriously, did you think you could win without any caustically?" When Blaze didn't respond, Yolko continued. "You and Leopon are the best to lead. So we lost a member of the assault team. It's sad, yes. We'll grieve, but if we don't fight, then we don't go home. The assault team concept was never designed for a caustically-less came completion, rather it was to get all of us out with as little causalities as possible.

She couldn't disagree with Yolko. "'Your right. I know you are, but... I still cannot help but fell responsible for Suines' death.

Leopon sighed as she charged at her 49th boar for the night. _Dammit, both me and Blaze had a gut feeling about this, and I did nothing._ She slashed her Rapier once again, before dodging and finishing off the mob, frowning as it shattered into a million blue shards.

 _Just like Suine,_ she thought, before sheathing her sword. Leopon had hoped that by doing some late night grinding, she could momentarily forget about the loss of the sweet girl. But she still couldn't forget, if anything it made things worse. Each boar she killed reminded her of the moment the sleeping night's member met her end. She shut her eyes as she remembered Zekken's look of abject horror.

"I thought I'd find you here," Kaysachi mummered quietly, before pacing up to her guild leader. "Light night training?"

"Thought it'd help take my mind off the loss, but it just made things worse."

"One day at a time," the one handed girl sighed.

"Huh?"

"You've got to take things one thing at a time." Kaysachi repeated. "The pain will not pass except with time. Even then, you will always have moments which will remind you of those whom have gone.

Leopon nodded. "you're right, it's just... the first days are always hard. But you know that, don't you?

Kaysachi nodded. "Shino died one year ago, along with father and Miho. Maho's the only one of my family whom I have left. And... What of your family?

"My 23 year old sister, Strea, she adopted me after mother died giving birth to my younger sister, Yui." Leopon admitted. "I'm guessing Maho adopted you, too?"

Kaysachi nodded. "She's been good to me, and now, for me do have done this to her," She clenched her right arm and glanced down.

Kaysachi, nobody knew what Kayaba was doing, except for Kayaba himself. I'm sure Maho knows that.

Things where going hectic in the hospitable as the nurses rushed to another death. Strea glanced up from her sister's body, gazing at the heart monitor of Leopon's. "Everything is stable, but that doesn't make me feel any better," she sighed.

"Hanoashi, I know you are being strong, keep up the brave fight, my precious daughter. Your friends are still alive, have you met up with each other? Are you trying to clear the game together? Have you made new friends?"

 _Hanoashi has a caring mother, even of she's only been her mother for a little over a year or so._ Strea had been one of the bystanders to see the girl appear in Tokyo, and her mind held a small relief that the red head girl had found herself a good home. _I should have stood up for her back then._

Strea mentally let out another sigh. Knowing her daughter was not the only one fighting for her life didn't give her much hope, only that her daughter was not alone. However, knowing Leopon, she'd have wished that she was the only one bearing this burden, rather than fifteen thousand other players.

"Keep strong, little sister," a girl with brown eyes and hair whispered, before brushing the girl's raven black hair. "I'll be with you as much as possible, and when you wake up, we'll do the things we use to do together."

Strea knew Maho had taken over the Nishisumi girls prefecture school, a prestigious high-school and collage combo campus, and one of the only two surviving Nishsumi sisters.

"I cannot believe you threw your whole life away on some stupid game!" Strea shut her eyes as the resident hothead, Koyouko, once again began to rant at her daughter. Her son glanced around briefly, before sighing and slipping up to Strea, taking her hand silently.

"Why can't she understand that Asuna was just curious." he whispered. Strea couldn't answer her boyfriend's question, but she could comfort him. He felt more comfortable, but she could hear him stiffen as the hospitable guards spoke to her mother.

"I'm sorry, but if you are going to yell like that, then we have to ask you to leave. His mother huffed, before sighing and leaving the room.

"It's going to be okay," Strea whispered, as his mom left them to their respective family members and to each-other.

"You think they'll be okay?"

"Let's hope so," Strea then let out a small chuckle, dispute the situation. "I bet they've joined up together long ago, and are eagerly charging through floors left and right."

Blaze woke up from her sleep and quietly walked outside, stretching as she went to join a few of her friends in a small quest.

Yolko, Leopon, Kaysachi, nodded, and the four girls headed out.

"So, is everyone handling things okay,?" Yolko asked gently, noticing everyone was quiet. Leopon let out a sigh. "I feel guilty about the loss, but I can't give up hope and run away, even though sometimes I feel like would like to." She admitted quietly.

Blaze frowned sorrowfully. "I could take over for a few days if you need a break, Leopon," she offered.

Leopon shook her head. "I appreciate the kind gesture, but I can tell you are still recovering yourself. Leopon avoided mentioning what had happened to Blaze on floor 2, even though she seemed to be fully recovered from that incident, Leopon knew that Blaze still sometimes had moments of depression. Coupled with the loss of a friend, and you had the recipe for potential mess-ups.

Blaze let out a growl "Sometimes I wish I had never entered SAO. Actually, I was going to wait until I was sure the technology was safe before buying into it, but then my mom got me into the Beta, and I felt like I had to try it." She then sighed. "But even had I waited, it would be hard for me to not to get my hands of a nerve gear and a copy of the game in order to try and help my friends."

Leopon placed her hand on Blaze's shoulder. "That's why I chose you as my second in command, you care not only about your friends, but those under your command as well."

Blaze blushed slightly before nodding. "Thanks, but... I'm not to sure I'm all that great of a vice commander. Maybe that's my shyness talking, though."

Kaysachi nodded. "Trust me, we could not have a better vice commander."

Arriving at the cave, Blaze took the lead, and began to slaughter slime after slime, her three companions following suit while taking out plenty of their own smiles. One huge slime proved to be a small difficulty for Blaze, but a sword skill from all four players quickly dispatched it.

Finally, they arrived at the first boss room. "Okay, this is the first out of two bosses in the room of the games of the past, so be on the look-out. We don't know what will be on the other side of this door." Leopon advised, taking the lead.

"Me me me me me!" Blaze stiffened as she heard that song. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" she shouted as the arena lit up, revealing...

A giant peace of... Poo.

"Ew, this has some cruel humor to it," Yolko replied, pinching her nose.

For once Blaze wished she had her previous body's lack of a sense of smell, because this smell, it was awful. "It gets worse," she muttered angrily.

"I'm am the great mighty poo," He started to sing.

"Wait, so it's actually poop!" Leopon shouted in disgust, finally taking in the gravity of the situation.

Blaze let out a sigh. "It's a boss from an old Nintendo 64 game, Concurs bad fur day, to be precise. I'm guessing all the bosses will be those from old video games." she admitted, before charging in, not getting far before backing up as the noxious gasses from the boss caused her a slight poison status.

"Damn, we can not get close," she muttered as the toxin began to wear off.

"At least it's not powerful," Kaysachi pointed out.

"Don't count on it, I didn't even get close." Blaze warned.

"But we have to do something," Yolko frowned.

Blaze suddenly accessed her inventory and took out a rock, before throwing it at the enemy, causing it's health to decrease rapidly.

"What the heck!" Leopon replied.

Blaze smirked. "I'm guessing we have to throw junk from our inventories in order to beat the boss. Kinda like what Concur had to do, but I'm not too sure."

"Wait, you've played the game?" Yolko shrieked.

"No, but I've heard the song." Blaze replied, dodging a shot of poo aimed at her.

"Have some more Cavair," He shouted, before throwing poo at her again.

"I will never eat fish eggs again," Yolko whined.

After about a minuet of throwing random junk, mostly from Blaze as she was the only one to carry gravel stones in her inventory, they got the so called "Mighty Poo," down in the read.

"Me me me me me!"

"Oh dear gosh, do not start that again!" Leopon yelled, throughout frustrated.

Blaze managed to hit the Boss, finally managing to deplete it's health. However, to her horror, she noticed one of it's final blobs was heading right to Kaysachi.

"Ugh, help!" She shouted, as Blaze quickly drew out an antidote crystal and using it on the one handed girl. "Thanks Blaze, she huffed, as her health was now in the read. "So much for it not being very toxic." she ranted silently at herself, before drinking a health potion.

"Well, we've got one of the boss rooms down, and only more to go. Wonder what Kayaba has planned for us?" Leopon asked.

"Please don't Jinx it," Yolko begged.

They went into the second room, and Blaze froze again upon seeing the enemy.

"Uka Uka?" she whispered.

"Huh?"

"Ugh, you Miserable Bandicoots! It's time to end you once and for all!" he shouted, before firing a laser at the four girls.

"A laser device!?" Leopon shouted.

"It was his special ability," Blaze sighed before hitting the enemy, noticing one of the health bars dissipate. "Hey, does it have three bars for you guys?"

Leopon nodded. "Three bars,

"Same here, "Kaysachi admitted.

"It's two for me as well," Yolko admitted.

"What, what's going on?"

Blaze smirked. "Well, in the crash games, a boss typically had to be attacked three times in order to defeat them. But, it seems we have to hut him three times per person." she shouted, before successfully hitting the enemy. "What! But I scored a hit and it's still two bars!" she cried, before avoiding another laser blast.

"Well, that would have been too easy," Leopon grunted disappointingly, before hitting one of the enemies. "Two health bars on my end." she shouted.

Blaze suddenly had an idea. "Wait, what if we have to each hit the boss before we cam take out another health bar?" She called out.

Yolko finally made her hit, before jumping back as another mask hurdled into the fray. "Sorry, I'm not much good at this, she apologized.

Blaze shook her head. "Don't worry bout it, we are not all good or experienced at the same things." she reassured her, she replied, before frowning. Is that "Aku Aku?" She asked.

The next five minuets turned into a furry of and attacking. Blaze could tell that Yolko was getting worn out, Leopon and Kaysachi where not too far behind. They finally mnage to stop the cat-fight between the two mask, when Neo Cortex suddenly appeared, and Uka Uka suddenly attached to his face. "muhahahahaha!"

"Okay, that big head is now ten times more creepy," Yolko muttered. Blaze let out a small chuckle at her friends choice of wording. Charging in, Blaze hit Neo across the face, only to be knocked back as her sword hit it's target. "Can't hit the head. And if you get knocked back you take a huge amount of damage!" She shouted.

The battle raged on and on, with Blaze, Leopon and Yolko hitting the targets. But while trying to avoid a laser blast, Blaze tripped, only to get hit by a plast from cortex's gun, suddenly bursting into shards.

Blaze opened her eyes, only to watch the enemy fighting her companions. "You have lost a life," Aku Aku mummered softly.

"So... I'm dead?" she asked.

"Kinda, but you'll be back shortly," he told her. Blaze couldn't bear to watch as he companions where fighting while grieved, thinking she had actually died.

"You may go back now," the good mask informed, and Blaze saw herself materializing back into the fight. She withdrew her blade and struck across the back of Cortex, knowing it wouldn't actually damage him, but it would draw Argo to her.

"You three heal up, I'll keep him off of you!" Blaze sounded. Surprise lit up in the gazes of her friends, but they took out their health potions and drank up, refreshing their HP. Meanwhile, Blaze was taunting the boss.

"You big powerful mouse and evil super-genius, beaten my a tiny marsupial!" she shouted. The boss didn't respond, only shot another laser at her, to which Blaze expertly dodged. At that time, Kaysachi hit Cortex across the back of his neck, causing him to explode into a shower of blue polygons. As she layed back, Blaze smiled as the quest complete icon flooded over her.

"Three life of crash, one antidote canteen, and 50,000 Col." Blaze whispered. Thye life of crash kinda acted like a life system, but you only got to use it outside of boss battles and fights with red players, and it only gave you ten health points. Antidote canteen kinda acted like eight antidote crystals for the storage space of one item, and would automatically be used when in the inventory if the user was poisoned. Both items where non-transferable.

"Huh, I got four life of crash," Leopon admitted.

"I think it's because I died once during the battle, so rather than frying my brain, it just took one of the lives from the reward," Blaze then sighed. "I don't want to know what would happen if we had to retreat or all of us had died." she shuddered.

Suddenly yolko started laughing. "Did a marsupial really bead that powerful enemy?" she managed to get out.

Blaze smiled gently. "Well," she began, while smiling. "He was kinda a mutant, cross between a human and marsupial. I'll have to show you the main character once we get out of SAO."

"This I gotta see. But first, we should head out of the cave." Leopon replied, and after unanimous agreement, they headed back to the entrance to rest up from such a hectic day.

 **I kinda figured it might be good to go over a few things in this chapter, just in case anyone has a question.**

 **For starters, Kaysachi being a Nishisumi. Yes, the Nishisumi family is in this fanfic, however, the family has nothing to do with Sensa-do or tankery as some call it. There isn't even a sport like tankery, outside of military excessive, neither does Koromorimene exist in this AU. If you where to... say... ask Miho about Ooaria, she would be able to tell you about the city, but not the school ship neither any events of the anime, at least form being there. The anime however does exist, but it was first aired in 2018.**

 **And yeah, she's Sachi from my Willpower and Determination fanfic, or rather, an AU of her. Believe it or not, had Blaze been a guy rather than a girl in this story, KayXBlaze would be the official ship rather than BlazeXDyne. And like in WAD, in SCGL, Kaysachi is missing her left hand and forearm, up to about two or three inches from her elbow.**

 **Some might argue that just including the family would make this a cross over. That would normally be true in my opinion, however, several other prominent anime families are planned to be incorporated into this story, and although the character design and most of the quarks of each characters are the same, the characters have no idea about their (our world) counterparts.**

 **Ash Kectchum, for example, would have no idea what it's be like to have a real life Pokemon battle, Tommy Oliver would have no experience as a power rangers, ect ect...**

 **The other thing is Suine's. I actually like her character, at least what I've seen of her. When I began writing this story, however, I wanted to have a rather abrupt and unforced character death and I thought to myself, "hm, Suine might be a good choice. It won't exactly be OP, like say Asuna or Leopon dying, but it will affect the assault team pretty harshly, and given Blaze's knowledge of the situation, it would affect her as well." However...**

 **Blaze does not remember much of her old life, and many times she has no idea that the knowledge and memories even exist. That's why she knew about the Razorbacks, and that is also why she was unable to put two and two together when Zekken mentioned her mother might have less time than the assault mean did. Granted, even if she had put two and two together, she might have gotten three instead of four, so to speak. What this means is that Blaze if badly affected by Suine's death, and she doesn't even know a character she liked from an anime ended up dying right in front of her.**

 **Finally, the video game chapter. I kinda wanted to include a few fight scenes with characters from other fandoms, the first two being the Great Might Poo from Concur's bad fur day, and Uka Uka and Cortex from Crash Bandicoot wrapped. I also wanted to make the rewards for the quest somewhat more powerful than most, but without making them too overpower.**


	9. Chapter 9

Purring erupted from the caveferret, as Blaze gently caressed his head. The white creature closed his eyes and licked her hand affectionately, before smiling gently at her. He could tell that Blaze was about to embark on a small journey, one that could be a potential mistake, however he was in no condition to try and change his master's mind. Although he suspected she viewed him as a friend more than a master.

"Hey, listen Snowpyro, I've got to go and do something, can you wait at the house for me "

Snowpyro gazed into her eyes for a second. _They are so... pretty, and they complement her facial features and hair color perfectly,_ He thought briefly before remembering the mental torture Blaze would soon put upon herself. He simply nodded, though, and walked to the house.

 _At the very least I know where you are heading,_ he replied, before wondering off for a bit. He waited about an hour before running over to the teleport area and quickly teleport to floor two.

It didn't take very long for him to track Blaze's location down and he listened intently to what she was trying to say.

"Just thought I'd check up on you."

"But I don't deserve your kindness, Blaze."

"Even though, you just let your emotions get the best of you,"

Snowpyro knew that Blaze was suffering, but he also knew why she felt it was important to her. Blaze was the kinda of girl who always wanted to know how things ended. Even if he was the one who abused her back on floor two, she would want to make sure he was alright, maybe even give him a little something to cheer him up. He was sure that was her intention even before she teleported.

But he wasn't too sure this was wise. Blaze knew how far he was willing to go to make her his, and here she was visiting him in his jail cell. _Bad call if you ask me. Admirable, but a bad call nonetheless._ He then sighed to himself. _Bad call or not, this was hers to make._ He then whisked himself away to think on this.

He soon found himself face to face with Pina, "Good morning Pina," He greeted, dipping his head slightly.

"Morning Snowpyro, where's Blaze?" She asked, tipping her head in slight confusion.

"I could ask you the same thing!" He retorted, fluffing his fur out. However, before he could get an answer, he heard an all too familiar voice "Pina!"

"Pina, I thought, oh Snowpyro, Pina's with you. Do you know where Blaze is? I kinda need her help on a quest. Actually I need both your help."

"Yeah, now where is Blaze. I told you where Silica is, so now you have to hold up your end of the bargain."

"You didn't tell me anything!" Snowpyro retorted, fluffing his fur again, but then he heard his name.

"Snowpyro, what are you doing here?" It has his master, Blaze.

Snowpyro then let his fur fly flat. "I kinda followed you," he replied, before narrowing his eyes at her.

She stared at him back, her green eyes furious. "I told you to stay at the house while I was gone." she mummered quietly.

He bristled. "You shouldn't be handing around that creep's cell like that! He shoutted, though he knew that only Pina would understand him fully.

"Is something wrong Blaze?" Silica asked quietly, looking worried.

"No...no, it's nothing." she mummered, before petting him. Snowpyro resisted the urge to gawk away and bark a retort, but he decided against giving his master away, "Let her get into trouble if she wants, no need in making a scene in around of her friends," He sighed.

"Ho ho, so you really believe that now do you?" Pina teased.

Snowpyro sighed. "No, I don't."

"So, can you help us with the quest? Silica asked eagerly. He knew that her answer would be yes. So he just gave Pina a quick nod and they began making their way to the quest point.

"Hey... wait for us," Blaze shouted, before catching up. "And I thought I was supposed to be the boss here," she whined, though Snowpyro knew she was just making light of the situation. He gave her a dirty look and stuck out his tongue in jest.

"So what exactly was she doing that you had to spy on her?" Pina asked,

"She... she decided to visit that one guy in jail. The one who..." he then looked down, unable to finish. He knew that Pina would understand.

"That isn't the most wisest thing to do." Pina remarked.

"I know that, but try telling that to Blaze," He cried.

"You okay Snowpyro?" Blze asked, concern filling her green eyes. He nodded, spitting quickly as if to rid himself of a thron. "Let me see." She mummered, before couching down.

He shook his head, ignoring the hurt look in his masters eyes as he barged passed. "What's up with Snowpyro?" Silica asked.

"I don't know, I've been treating his nice, he just seems angry for some reason recently." she wailed.

A wave of guilt flooded over Snowpyro, but he pushed it down. "It should be obvious. We may not be mental health programs but we familiars do have some of their basic instincts and we know when something is wrong." He muttered.

"Don't you think you are being a bit too harsh on your master? Pina asked him silently.

That hit him on the spot. "Yeah, your right, he sighed, before tipping his head. "Can you get Blaze by herself for a moment, we need to understand each other bout this."

Pina nodded and tugged at Silica before pointing at her to Give her and Snowpyro some space. Although Silica seemed reluctant at first, Pina was able to convince her master to let her friend and the other familiar have some room for discussion.

Here goes," Snowpyro sighed, before turning to Hanoashi. He drew a square with horizontal lines before gazing at her worriedly.

"Are you saying you are worried about me going to jail?" She asked, as she bent down to gazed at his crude drawing.

He shook his head violently before pointing his head at her before drawing an X, indicating she was outside the cell. He then growl at the cell before gazing at her worriedly.

"Oh, that..." His gaze continued to shine on her, as he bore into her green eyes. "I... I understand. Don't worry, I'm not going there again. It's just that... One day Sword art online is going to end and he's going to find himself back into the real world, and I don't want him beating himself up over this," she explained softly.

 _What... what the hell is wrong with you?_ He thought to himself before sighing. He settled for nuzzling against her, then padding off to see where Silica and Pina went off to.

As it turned out the quest had been repetitively easy, and had allowed both Pina and Snowpyro to learn the Heal ability. As he curled up beside his master, he smiled at her gently and nuzzled her gently before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

 **Blaze POV**

Blaze petted the caveferret's head as he fell asleep. "I'm so sorry I worried you. But you don't have to worry, I won't be seeing him again." she whispered, almost inaudibly. Her gaze fluttered over to Silica.

 _Can she really handle a familiar? It's hard work and you have to keep a close eye on them when on the battle_. It wasn't that she didn't think she couldn't care for the feathered dragon, rather it was what her reaction would be if Silica ever lost Pina. _Oh what am I saying, we are the same age and I'm raising Snowpyro without so much as an iota of experience raising a pet._

However, as she closed her eyes, she neglected to noticed the blond haired simi-transparent guy watching her. "Rest well, let me take over for now" he whispered before exiting the room.

Unkown POV

After leaving Blaze to her sleep, his body began to fill with color as he finished materializing in the Swordland. "Ah, sword art online, it's been a while since the Beta. I wonder if, ah what the heck, there is no use dwelling on that," he humored himself before walking out of the town.

Soon finding himself in the field, he created an EXP line to Blaze, albeit it was very limited. EX lines where a hidden feature where you could covertly send EXP and Col to another player, but it was wise to keep it a secret. For one, ordinary players didn't know about it, not even the beta testers. And second, it could cause issues. But, at least no one could trace it, except Kayaba and he had already confirmed that Heathcliff was Kayaba. He could expose him now, but what good would that do at this stage of the game.

 _As long as Kayaba is in the game, he'll bee to distracted to find my EXP line to Hanoashi,_ he told himself. "And in time, I will expose him." He vowed silently before heading off to train. _As long as Hanoashi's brain isn't fried that is._

He smiled as he spotted Leopon doing well against some mobs. "Lyra surviving the swordland is almost as important to me as is Hanoashi's survival" he whispered quietly, before finding tome Treeants of his own to fight expertly striking and dodging them with his spear.

"Too easy," hew mummered, before rolling forward and jabbing at a boar that was in the mix, smirking as it shattered to pieces. This was his domain now. He was not bounded by the weariness the others where. He could fights for days on end, and not get tired. But he did have one weakness.

Her.

 **I'd like to thank all of those who have followed this story, and those who have supported it, regardless through reviews, favoring it, following, or just took time out of their busy lives to read it. This is probably going to be one of my most successful story, and I'm glad it has done so well.**

 **However, right now I'm not going to have as much time as I'd hoped to write fanfiction. I've got a new trailer house I'm going to fix up and live in, and I also have a lot of other stuff I want to do, so where I could spend up to two hours a day on planning and writing, I'm now looking at maybe 20-40 minuets for both. As a result I'm going to be focused on this story and** ** _A Quiet Life_** **for some time, at least until one of these stories is complete or I'm able to find more time to write.**

 **That being said, I greatly appreciate the support. I would appreciate more reviews, I know there is spelling mistakes here and there, and I will be correcting them as time goes on. Actually I have a tendency to noticed new mistakes every time I reread a chapter I wrote, small things usually, but never the less I like to correct them. Also, I'd really to hear your opinions and views on this story.**


	10. AN

Not a new chapter guys, but just a quick update. I'm having to move and I'm going to be without internet for the next two weeks to two months. Gotta get everything ready for the move first.

I'd like to thank everyone who has favorited, followed, reviewed, and enjoyed my fanfictions. I will be returning as soon as I can get my internet turned back on and I'll have some new chapters for you to enjoy as well.

You guys (and girls) are the best! Thank you and I hope to see you real soon.

~Blazepanzer24~


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